The X Chronicles Book One: Visitors
by ghidorah5464
Summary: The Xilians from Godzilla: Final Wars return to Earth for a vacation. However, what was supposed to be a relaxing trip turns into a reunion with old enemies, some of which are willing to become allies but others who want nothing but revenge.
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

Revenge. Nowadays it is seen as one of the few things worth fighting for. The United States joined World War 2 with the intent of getting revenge for Pearl Harbor. They invaded Iraq and killed Osama Bin Laden as revenge for 9/11. Why? Because they couldn't forget those events. Vengeance is best served cold, but it still needs to be warm inside the heads of the vengeful. Humankind is well acquainted with revenge. However, they aren't the only ones. There are thousands of alien species living across the universe, and humankind is viewed by them as one of the most inept. Hell, even humankind has only had a few encounters with these alien species, and often they prove themselves our superiors. But what would happen if two, or three, or even four inhuman alien species, all with a thirst for revenge, were to cross paths? Let's just say, chaotic wouldn't be enough to describe it. And, as always, humankind would be somehow caught up in the mix.


	2. A Little Backstory

**Chapter One: A Little Backstory**

It was January of the year 2565. No more than 4 years prior, planet Earth had just barely survived one of the most disastrous events of its history since the invasion of the Visitors in 2009. Humankind had made the mistake of trusting their alien visitors, the Xilians. From one of the moons of Saturn, the Xilians had come to Earth with the intention of subjugating the human race and using them as food to satisfy the large number of Xilians dying from starvation. Their Racial Leader, Samuel Sendjin, had the strategic plan of subtly gaining control of the planet by replacing their leaders with Xilian androids and appearing friendly to the humans through the use of genetically engineered human bodies, or avatars, which the Xilians psionically connected with.

However, not all of humankind was as blind as to believe every word the Xilians said. Several members of the Earth Defense Force's M-Organization, including Shinichi Ozaki, Captain Douglas Gordon, Katsunori Kazama, Commander Kumasaka, and a number of others, researched intensely the claims of the Xilians and found all of their stories to be lies. In addition, with the help of news reporter Ana Otonashi and molecular biologist Miyuki Otonashi, whom Ozaki had grown close to during his mission as her bodyguard, they uncovered the Xilians' plans to take over Earth. When their ruse was exposed on national TV, Sam attempted to salvage their integrity in the eyes of Earth, when he was unexpectedly shot in the head by his increasingly wayward son, X Sendjin. X declared himself Sam's successor and went on to initiate an all-out assault on Earth, using battleships and mind-controlled leviathans he and Sam had taken from Earth. In addition, he took control of all of Earth's mutants, with the exception of Ozaki, who was seemingly immune to mind control. Unbeknownst to X, however, Captain Gordon and the M-Organization had foreseen this and had the entire population of Earth take refuge in underground shelters that had been built by the EDF years before. Humankind was safe while the Xilians ravaged their civilization.

Refusing to give in the Xilians' brute force, a small team of survivors who were willing to stand up to them used their last remaining vessel, the _Gotengo _to release the most powerful creature on Earth, who had been cryogenically frozen for years; Godzilla. Over the course of several days, Godzilla subdued all of the monsters across the planet. As he did battle with a Xilian monster, Monster X, in the ruins of Tokyo, the _Gotengo_ team made an assault on the Xilian mothership. They found themselves met with a massive defense force as well as a barrier shield protecting the ship. Kazama, in a small plane, was able to get inside the ship and destroy the shield generator at the cost of his own life. Unbeknownst to everybody but him, however, he was being guided.

For you see, X Sendjin hadn't always been the calculating, ruthless murderer that he was now. He'd once been a good hearted, friendly young boy. However, tragic events in his life had pushed him to question his father's judgment and begin to distance himself from him. While Sam had always been too busy to pay this heed, X's four closest friends had watched him undergo this change for years. Their names were Kendra, Zan, Milo, and Grover, and they were shocked by X's betrayal and by him going so far as to kill his loving father. Using Milo's expertise in telepathy, the four were able to psychically contact Kazama and lead him to the shield generator aboard the ship. They had a hunch that somebody (they were unsure who) aboard the _Gotengo_ would be able to knock some sense into the pretentious X, based on his reaction from meeting the _Gotengo _team on national TV.

Sure enough, the team penetrated the mothership, only to be taken hostage by Kendra, Zan, Milo, and Grover under X's orders but with only Ozaki, Miyuki, Captain Gordon, and Major Kumoro surviving the elite soldiers' slaughter of them. They confronted X in the mothership's main chamber as he watched Godzilla and the Guardian of Earth, Mothra, do battle with Monster X and the Xilians' ancient monster, Gigan. X explained to the humans their plan when they came to Earth, and revealed some shocking information about Ozaki; that the two of them were twin brothers and both were special. Their mother, Coraline, who'd died in childbirth, had been human, meaning that they were half human, half Xilian. A Xilian with both human and Xilian DNA was known as a Kaiser and, in a one in a million probability, was gifted with close to unlimited supernatural powers.

X was able to use his powers to turn Ozaki against his friends, but a talisman from Mothra was able to free him, and, enable him to unlock an extent of his power. X, however, had complete mastery of his Kaiser powers, and was easily able to trounce the inexperienced Ozaki in combat while the _Gotengo _team attempted to subdue X's elite soldiers, resulting in Gordon killing Milo and Grover with his sword. With the freed Earth leaders, the _Gotengo _team attempted to escape the mothership while Gordon fought Zan and Kendra to the death. X went on to beat the living hell out of Ozaki, until, however, his brother was able to unlock his hidden Kaiser power. The tables now were turned in Ozaki's favor, and he gave X the thrashing that he needed. In a last ditch effort, X telepathically initiated the mothership's self-destruct sequence. The entire _Gotengo_ team escaped the exploding mothership mostly unscathed. However, Godzilla now faced an overwhelming enemy in the wake of Monster X's transformation into the three-headed Keizer Ghidorah. With a generous donation of Kaiser energy from Ozaki, Godzilla was able to destroy Keizer Ghidorah and left for the sea with his son, leaving humankind to rebuild their civilization.

However, unbeknownst to them, X survived the explosion and located the badly damaged bodies of his friends and of his father. Ozaki's victory over him was able to knock some sense into his head and he regretted his many bad decisions. Using his Kaiser powers, X was able to directly contact the Xilian goddess Eywa and with her help, perform a massive consciousness transfer on his fallen friends and allies transferring their spirits into their human avatar bodies. Comatose from the massive display of power, X was taken back to Planet X by Sam, Kendra, Zan, Milo, Grover, and the Xilian survivors in a backup ship. Ozaki, however, was the only one to see this occur and began to think differently of X and, for the first time, saw the face of his father.

Almost 4 years later, humankind has been able to join together and rebuild their beloved civilization in the wake of the Xilian invasion. Ozaki and Miyuki gave in to their feelings for each other and got married in September of 2561. A relationship kindled for Gordon and Ana as well. Back on Planet X, X awoke from his coma a new man, intent on repenting for his sins. All was going well for the people of Earth. The rebuilding of their civilization helping bring all people of the world together and peacetime was upon them. Little did they know, however, their Xilian friends would soon be returning to Earth. But not for the reason they thought.


	3. Return to Earth

**Chapter 2: Return to Earth**

"This is the most uncomfortable terrain I've ever walked on!" X complained as he walked unsteadily on the sand. "Why aren't we wearing shoes again?"

"Because, X, the custom here is not to wear shoes," Sam replied, the bright sun reflecting off of his bald head.

"That's incredibly stupid. This stuff is hot as hell to walk on! There's a huge body of water over there. Why don't we just swim below it?" suggested Milo.

"Because here we're not Xilians, Milo. Did you forget?" Kendra asked him.

"I haven't forgotten. And frankly, I don't mind it at all. The girls here are way hotter than back home!" said Zan as they walked past two Japanese girls sunbathing.

Kendra punched her brother in the arm. "I've still got my sword handy, Zan. Don't make me have to use it."

Suddenly, a loud shout came from behind the group. Based on the voice, they knew exactly who it was. They turned and saw Grover, pointing a panicked finger at some seagulls that were helping themselves to some French fries somebody had left behind.

"MORE ALIENS! THEY'RE ABDUCTING THOSE FRIES! I'M ON IT!"

Grover pulled a gray and red miniature Xilian laser gun out of his back pocket and pointed it at the seagulls. Before he could fire, Zan tackled him to the ground. The gun landed in the sand and out of sight.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, GROVER? DO YOU WANT THE EARTH AUTHORITIES TO KNOW WE'RE HERE? THOSE ARE SEAGULLS! THEY'RE WILDLIFE HERE!"

Grover threw Zan off of him and they both stood up quickly to face each other.

"WELL HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?" Grover retorted angrily. "THEY COULD'VE USED THOSE FRIES TO POWER A DEATH WEAPON FOR ALL WE KNOW!"

"AUGH!" Zan shouted in frustration. "YOU'RE AS THICK AS A ANGTSÌK'S HAMMER!"

X had heard enough. He walked up to the both of them and gave them both a punch in the face. They staggered back from the blow. Being a Kaiser meant X's punches hurt 10 times as much as Kendra's.

"If you two don't stop fucking around I'm gonna break my foot off in your asses. Got it?"

Zan and Grover both knew very well when X was threatening you, it was always best to do as he says. They both mumbled something that sounded like a 'yes' and proceeded to rejoin Sam, Kendra, and Milo, who were looking at them both with great disdain. The six of them continued walking, leaving Grover's gun in the sand behind them. As they moved out of from where they were standing, somebody walked up toward the gun, drawn to it by the light reflecting off its surface. They picked it up and brought it up to eye level. A visibly pregnant woman in a swimsuit walked up behind the person.

"What did you find, Ozaki?"

The man holding the gun distinctly remembered repelling a barrage of laser blasts fired at him from four guns that looked just like the one he'd just found. Almost four years ago.

"Hopefully, Miyuki, not what I think it is," he replied.


	4. An Unfriendly Reunion

**Chapter Three:** **An Unfriendly Reunion**

Grover suddenly froze in his tracks, an expression of terror appearing on his face.

"What is it, Grover?" asked Kendra.

"Uhhh… nothing," he replied nervously. "I'll be… right back."

Grover took off in the opposite direction. When he'd tracked their footsteps completely, he immediately got on all fours, scanning the sand frantically looking for the gun he'd left behind. As he ran his hands through the sand, a shadow loomed over him.

"Looking for this?"

Before Grover could say any words of thanks, he got a glimpse of the benefactor's face. He froze up in terror, unable to get any words out. The benefactor held Grover's gun in his hand and was staring down at him with immense contempt in his eyes. And Grover knew why. He'd met this individual once before. Aboard their old mothership, he'd made eye contact with this person as they walked past each other to confront their enemies. Grover had heard from X all too many times about how powerful this person had been in their fight, and these horror stories were, in Grover's view, about to come to life.

"Care to tell me what you're doing here… Xilian?"

With no intent of keeping his cover, Grover let out a terrified yell and turned tail and ran, stumbling over his own limbs trying to get up out of the sand.

"Hear that, Zan?" Milo asked him.

"Yep," replied Zan. "That's a Grover's cry of distress. Remind me to never let him out of my sight again."

The five Xilians simultaneously ran back in Grover's direction. It wasn't long before they ran into him. Or rather, he ran into them, knocking X over in a terrified frenzy.

"X! Oh, thank Eywa! It's... it's…" Grover struggled to get the words out of his mouth.

"It's who, Grover? What are you talking about?" X asked his crazed friend.

"It's… it's HIM!" Grover finally managed, pointing in the direction that he'd come.

Sure enough, Shinchi Ozaki stood several feet away, wearing swim-trunks and holding in his hand Grover's misplaced gun. A short distance behind him was Miyuki Otonashi, looking very much pregnant and with an irate expression on her face.

"Back for more, are you?" Ozaki asked his old enemies.

X's lip curled at the sight of his brother; the very same brother who'd beaten him senseless aboard his own ship. Ozaki stared back at X with equal contempt. The Earth's rejuvenation process had taken years, and now the root causes of the need for rejuvenation were standing before him. Despite his usual forgiving nature, Ozaki now had an overwhelming desire to punch his twin brother's teeth in. X had an equally overwhelming desire. The brothers took an additional step closer towards each other. Now they were arm's distance away from each other. Miyuki was backing away now, but Kendra, Zan, Milo and, to a lesser extent, Grover were standing close behind X, ready to back him up.

A small smirk appeared on Ozaki's face, as he stood face-to-face with X; a smirk that said, "Go ahead and throw the first punch. You'll only be proving me right." X was two seconds from doing as such when Kendra laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and could tell from her eyes what she was trying to communicate. His fists, which were originally clenched to the point of bursting his veins, began to loosen. As he turned to face Ozaki again, he found himself met with an unexpected fist to the face. X stumbled back and fell on his rear in the rough sand, looking up at Ozaki, who was retracting his fist. That was the last straw. The four Xilians took off like lightning at Ozaki. Ozaki braced himself for impact, his Kaiser instincts sharp as knives.

Zan charged him from the left, preparing a full roundhouse kick. Ozaki grabbed him by the leg with one hand and delivered a powerful right hook with the other. Zan fell onto the sand, dazed. Ozaki was quick to turn 90 degrees to face Milo, who had his right fist at the ready. Ozaki parried his fist and grabbed Milo's arm. With a swift movement, he judo flipped Milo on his back into the sand. He now had Kendra coming at him with a thin katana she'd concealed in her bag. She swung the blade at Ozaki's neck with expert precision. At the last minute, Ozaki performed a Matrix move and the sword passed over him, barely clipping his chest. Taking advantage of Kendra's open sword arm, he grabbed her by the wrist and swung her toward his right. Sure enough, Grover was making a swift move from Ozaki's right, not expecting to be body checked by Kendra via Ozaki. They rolled across the sand, coming to a stop on top of each other. Grover's face was as red as a tomato as Kendra swiftly shoved him off of her.

Ozaki was too busy admiring his handiwork at the Xilians picking themselves up off the ground to see his infuriated brother fire a bolt of Kaiser lightning from his hand. It struck Ozaki in the chest and knocked him head over heels across the sand. Miyuki let out a small gasp as X leapt into the air at Ozaki, another bolt of lighting ready in his hand. Ozaki was now forming his own energy attack in his hand and the two brothers' attacks were on the verge of colliding.

"ENOUGH!"

A thundering voice knocked X and Ozaki off their feet, canceling out their attacks. They slowly rose off the sand to see Sam approaching them with an extremely angry expression on his face.

"HAVE YOU BOTH LOST YOUR MINDS? ENGAGING IN COMBAT WITHOUT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST EXCHANGE OF WORDS?"

"What is there to say, dad?" X asked. "This asshole hit me first!"

"Oh I'm sorry. Did we lose track of the fact that YOU destroyed our entire civilization?" Ozaki retorted angrily.

"Man, you earthlings sure know how to hold a grudge…" X muttered.

Ozaki furiously tackled X to the ground, making haphazard attempts at throttling him. Sam snapped his fingers and a small burst of energy separated X and Ozaki.

"If you two are just going to fight, I see no reason for us vacationing here any longer!" thundered Sam.

"Wait… VACATION?" Ozaki asked in shock. "You mean you're not with them?"

"Yes. Vacation. Nothing more," Sam replied. "Peace reigns on our planet, so we took some time off. And what do you mean, with _them?_"

Ozaki looked disdainfully towards the city. A large hulking spaceship loomed over Tokyo, Japan.


	5. The Visitors

**Chapter Four: The Visitors**

"Them. They call themselves the Visitors. They claim they're here on peaceful terms. They've asked for some of our resources and have been sharing their technology with us."

Nobody noticed the darkening expression on Sam's face.

"And you gullible idiots believe them? Didn't WE teach you anything?" Kendra asked Ozaki.

Ozaki looked back at her with an annoyed expression. "Apparently not," he replied.

"What's more is," Miyuki chimed in. "This isn't their first 'visit' to Earth. I looked it up. Back in the 21st century they were here with the exact same claims."

"And you STILL believe them?" X asked in disbelief.

"None of the records said that they did anything suspicious. But still, the U.N. aren't even swayed by their arrival here, even after you invaded." Miyuki replied.

"Well," said Sam, still with the same expression on his face. "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."

"You've got that right," said Ozaki. "The U.N. has even tried to cover up that you were ever here. They've told everyone that Godzilla was responsible for everything! They said that he broke the monsters free of your control and that your little spaceships were trying to get the monsters under control the whole time."

"WHAT!" shouted Milo in disbelief. "Why would they even do that?"

"Because," said Miyuki. "They didn't want to make it look like the United Nations had poor judgment. People would've lost hope. As far as everyone but us knows, the Xilians were only trying to help and Godzilla destroyed their mothership."

"Wow," said X. "That's fucked up…"

"At least we can agree on something," said Ozaki. "And to add insult to injury, they accused us of failing to stop Godzilla. Gordon was demoted and we lost the _Gotengo._ Which, by the way, is now decked out with Visitor technology."

"Have they done anything suspicious since their arrival?" asked Sam.

"Not yet," said Ozaki. "But we've been keeping an eye on them."

"Perhaps we could…" X seemed to be struggling on this word. "H…help you..."

Then came the expected awkward silence. Ozaki and Miyuki were looking at X with a look of disbelief on their faces. The other Xilians were no different; shocked that X was the one to suggest this.

"Well… it couldn't hurt, I guess," said Miyuki.

"Actually, it could hurt a lot," said Ozaki. "Hurt my self-esteem."

"You need our help," said Sam. "I have… experience dealing with the Visitors."

Ozaki looked at him with an expression of pure loathing. "I don't NEED anything from you Xilians. YOU least of all."

Sam looked away, at a loss for words.

"Tell you what," said Kendra. "We'll keep our eyes and ears open and if we find anything out, we'll let you know."

Miyuki smiled at her.

"Alright then," she replied, looking cautiously at Ozaki. "That's probably best."

She opened her bag and handed Kendra a business card.

"Here's where you can reach us."

"Don't feel like you have to though," added Ozaki, as he led Miyuki away from the group.

"Ok well… bye," said X.

There was no reply from Ozaki as he and Miyuki walked out of sight.


	6. Friend or Foe?

**Chapter Five: Friend or Foe?**

"Well!" said X, throwing his bag on the couch as they walked through their apartment door. "That little encounter went about as well as expected."

"Well, at least the Earth authorities aren't coming after us," said Zan as he slumped into a nearby chair.

Sam sunk onto the couch slowly. "Did you see the way he… looked at me? My son hates me…"

"He doesn't HATE you, Sam!" Kendra exclaimed. "I think he's just disappointed by you. I mean, you haven't seen him since he was a baby. You need to try and reach out to him."

"You know something?" asked Grover. "I don't think those earthlings trust us!"

Everyone just stared at Grover blankly. They all knew there were no conceivable words.

Ozaki hung up his keys and headed immediately for his workroom as soon as he and Miyuki entered the house.

"Ozaki, honey? What'd wrong?" Miyuki asked him.

"Nothing. I have work to do," he replied, moving hastily toward the door.

"No you don't. You got the day off. That's why we went to the beach, remember?"

Ozaki ignored her and continued walking.

"You know, honey, if they're willing to help us with the Visitors, we should at least be grateful."

Ozaki turned around violently.

"Did you forget about everything they've done? They can't be trusted any more than the Visitors! They don't deserve to help us or be a part at all of our society!"

Ozaki stormed toward the door and opened it violently.

"You know, Ozaki," said Miyuki. "They all had guns on hand when you attacked X. They could've killed us both at any time but they didn't. An untrustworthy person would've used those guns."

Ozaki stopped as he passed through the doorway, then continued and closed the door calmly.


	7. The Press Conference

**Chapter Six: The Press Conference**

The next day, Ozaki seemed to have cooled down. When he, Miyuki, X, and Sam attended the Visitors' third press conference, he seemed to not regard X with such spite. Sam, however, he refrained from speaking to. All eyes were on the podium when the speaker stepped up to the stand. She had the appearance of an attractive woman in her late 20's. Her black hair was in a short pixie cut and she wore a grey smart suit. She stood before the press and many cameras with a serious, resolute expression. Miyuki looked back at Sam, who, while he looked composed, had his eyes fixated on the speaker with an unparalleled rage burning up inside them. Finally the speaker spoke.

"Good afternoon, people of Earth. For those who do not know, I am Anna, queen and supreme commander of the Visitors."

X could've sworn that she'd deliberately made eye contact with the four of them when she said "those who do not know".

"As many of you should know by now, my people and I come to this planet in peace. We only wish to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with the planet Earth, in hopes that we may one day establish a connection between all planets one day. We offer you our technological advances as peace offerings in hopes that the Earth will become part of this alliance of planets. Are there any questions?"

Time passed as several news reporters asked Anna trivial questions, namely about their race and appearance. Ozaki, X, and Miyuki observed Anna's answers more carefully than most, taking note of her answers and the manner in which she answered them. Finally, as she was finishing up her questions, a final hand was raised. The hand belonged to Sam. Anna saw his hand raise and immediately her demeanor changed. There was no smile and not the slightest hint of ambivalence in her voice.

"You had a question?" she asked him. Her voice sounded venomous.

"Yes," replied Sam in an equally spiteful tone. "You seem to be familiar with Earth customs. Are you sure this is not your first time coming here?"

Anna stared at Sam for a few seconds without saying anything. Her lip twitched slightly, giving Sam a short glimpse of her fang-like teeth.

"I don't understand. Why would you think otherwise? What have we done to make you think such a thing?"

"Oh, nothing," Sam replied. "It's just that you all seem increasingly familiar to me."

Anna's eyes narrowed. "As do you…"

One of Anna's subordinates behind her spoke up.

"Well, I think it is time for us to take our leave. Correct, my Queen?"

Anna's eyes were still fixating on Sam when she uttered the words, "Correct, Marcus."

Anna and her subordinates stepped off the podium as numerous cameras flashed in their direction. As she stepped out of the conference room, Anna's head turned in Sam and the others' direction. Directly making eye contact with Sam, she flashed a condescending smile at him as she passed the threshold and went out of sight. Sam's fist was as clenched as X's had been the day before, but his face remained as calm as always. His reaction was swift and violent when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Dad…" said X. "You ok?"

"Yes…" Sam replied. "Fine."

"Well, she lied," said Miyuki as they exited the conference room. "We could try to pin her on that, but the records show no cases of suspicious activity from them last time they were here. We wouldn't get very far on that alone."

"Damn it!" muttered X. "We're powerless unless we can get more incriminating evidence of their activities!"

"Well, until we do have more evidence, I suggest we just lay off of them for a while," Ozaki said. "If they found out we were on to them, they could easily do something to silence us."

"Agreed," said X. "They haven't done anything yet, so we don't need to worry about them for now."

"Besides," said Miyuki, smiling and cradling her belly. "We have more important things to worry about right now."

Ozaki smiled back at her and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

X looked at them quizzically. "Wait… you're pregnant?"

Sam smacked X upside the head with an exasperated expression on his face.


	8. Worthy of Trust

**Chapter Seven: Worthy of Trust**

It was late the following night. Ozaki and Miyuki were sound asleep in their bed, the first restful sleep Miyuki'd had in a while. The wind was blowing hard across the windowpanes, so when one of them silently slid open, neither of them noticed. Nor were they awakened by the large, hulking figure climbing in through the open window and crawling on all fours up onto the ceiling. The creature snarled quietly and a greenish substance dripped off its jaws and hit the floor. It was now positioned over Ozaki and Miyuki. Suddenly, a noise caught the beast's attention and its head swerved violently. It surveyed the room but saw nothing. Disregarding this, it turned its attentions back toward Ozaki and Miyuki. A second pair of jaws extended out of its mouth and neared Miyuki's neck. A drop of its saliva fell from its mouth and landed on Miyuki's face. She awoke with a start, staring into the face of this loathsome beast. She was too scared to say a word as its jaws neared her throat.

Suddenly, something yanked the shrieking beast from the ceiling by its bladed tail and swung it out the window from whence it came. Miyuki and Ozaki both sat up with a start and saw X standing at the end of there bed, panting and sweating profusely.

He pointed a finger at them. "STAY THERE!"

X leapt out the window and pounced on the struggling beast trying to make its escape. He restrained its arms with his, but the alien knocked X aside with its tail and prepared to strike at him head on. As the alien leapt through the air at X, he formed a bolt of Kaiser energy in his hand and it connected with the alien's head, which consequently exploded into pieces, spraying green blood all over the streets that began corroding the pavement.

X observed the monster's headless body. He picked up a fragment of the creature's head and saw a large V branded into the forehead. He stared at it with a livid expression as Sam and the others pulled up in a poorly disguised Xilian car. While Kendra, Milo, Zan, and Grover ushered the staring pedestrians away, Sam approached X.

"What was it?"

X showed him the head fragment. "Xenomorph. Belonging to Anna if I'm not mistaken."

Sam looked grim. He began heading back to the car.

"Where are you going?" X asked.

"To make a few calls," Sam replied as he drove off.

A perplexed X watched Sam pull away, then remembered why he'd come in the first place. With one powerful jump, he landed back in Ozaki and Miyuki's bedroom. Miyuki was sobbing and trying to catch her breath, holding Ozaki in a vicegrip.

"Is she ok?" X asked him.

"She will be," Ozaki replied.

"...Good," said X softly.

Ozaki looked up at him with a weak smile.

"T…thank you. You saved both our lives."

"Of course I did," X said, smiling. "You're my brother."

Ozaki looked at X with shocked eyes, but then his smile became much broader. Miyuki, who was still trying to regain her composure, managed a smile at X as well.

From then on, you couldn't find a more drastically changed relationship.


	9. Bonding

**Chapter Eight: Bonding**

The Xenomorph accident changed everything for the better. Ozaki and Miyuki had begun spending time socially with the Xilians. The hatred and tension between them had seemingly vanished overnight. Miyuki meant the world to Ozaki, and X having saved her made Ozaki see him no longer as his enemy, but as his loving brother. And the feeling was mutual. X, in reality, had begun to respect Ozaki ever since he'd knocked the sense back into him in their fight. He'd accepted that what he'd done was wrong, and Ozaki had unknowingly helped him realize it.

Wanting to make the Xilians more welcome on Earth, Ozaki offered them jobs as soldiers for the Earth Defense Force under the guise of mutants. He began spending time with X and the others socially, with the exception of Sam. Even Miyuki began bonding with Kendra. It seemed like they'd become one big happy family. Which meant that, several months later, they'd all be sharing one incredibly special and miraculous moment together.


	10. Emma and Sam

**Chapter Nine: Emma and Sam**

It was 3 in the morning when Sam woke the others up with the news that Miyuki's water had broken in the middle of the night. As difficult as it was, the others dragged themselves out of bed and made their way to the hospital. Miyuki's contractions were becoming increasingly unbearable. The Xilians could hear her from down the hall. They reached the room shortly before the doctors did, and Miyuki was not looking well. Ozaki was present, as was Miyuki's sister, Ana, and Douglas Gordon.

"Please, stand away," the doctors told the Xilians. "We need as much space as possible."

"My son and I can help," Sam insisted. "We have experience."

Upon hearing this statement, X began to dread his part in this. He was used to helping Sam deliver Xilian children back home, but his role usually involved him subjecting his hand to strenuous compression by the mother. By X's experience, childbirth seemed to give the bearer hand strength capable of crushing metacarpals with ease. And X was not looking forward to going through that again.

"Actually, dad…" said X nervously. "I pulled a muscle in my hand the other day and I don't think this would help it heal…"

Sam looked at X with an expression that said, "How stupid do you think I am?" X groaned in exasperation and walked to right side of Miyuki's bed, opposite Ozaki. He offered her his hand and gritted his teeth, waiting for crushing sensations to begin. Sure enough, in tune with Miyuki's contractions, her grip tightened around his hand. X had to do all in his power to keep his mouth shut. He saw Sam assisting the doctors at the end of the bed and the others standing against the walls, Grover with a camera at the ready.

X's yells were beginning to rival Miyuki's screams as she held his hand in a vicegrip. Just then, Sam's expression became one of concern.

"Well," he said. "This is different."

Ozaki turned his head swiftly. "What? What's different?"

"Well," said Sam. "There appears to be more than one."

Ozaki's attempt to process this information was shortly interrupted by X.

"AAHHH!" he yelled. "MY FINGERS SHOULD NOT BEND THAT WAY!"

"Hang on, Miyuki!" Ozaki told his wife. "You're having twins!"

Miyuki's screams resembled a howling banshee.

"GREAT! 2 TIMES THE KIDS, 2 TIMES THE PAIN FOR THE BOTH OF US!" X yelled.

"Suck it up, X, and keep holding her hand!" Sam replied angrily.

"Ok, that's one of them!" said the doctor, cradling the screaming newborn in his arms. "Keep pushing! Mr. Sendjin! Hold this first one!"

"Alright," said Sam, taking the wailing infant from the doctor. "Eugggh, it's disgusting as I remember it..."

"OW, OW, OW!" yelled X through Miyuki's screams and the cracking sounds of his bones. "HURRY IT UP! OWWWWW!"

Miyuki's screams were at their pitch.

"AAAAAAUUUGGGGGHHH!"

Ozaki put his hand on his wife's sweating forehead and wiped away the tears rolling down her cheeks. "You're doing great, Miyuki! Keep pushing!"

"BUT PLEASE, LESS SQUEEZING!" X howled.

Ozaki looked at X, revolted. "X, that's disgusting!"

"I MEAN ON MY HAND, YOU IDIOT!" X shouted angrily.

"Ok, here it comes!" the doctor shouted anxiously. "Ozaki, hold it!"

A wave of pain swept over Miyuki, and her voice reflected it.

"!"

"There!" the doctor proclaimed victoriously. "You've done it, Miyuki!"

Ozaki kissed her on the forehead. "Great job, honey!"

Gordon was smiling broadly with his hand on Ana's shoulder. She was making no effort to fight back tears. Grover was taking picture after picture and even Kendra was wiping away tears.

"Yes, splendid work," said X. "Now please let go of my hand before I lose any more feeling in it."

Miyuki was still trying to resume breathing normally, but managed to say, "Sorry about that," before letting go of X's mangled hand.

"Well, doctor?" asked Ozaki, handing the crying newborn to him. "Boys? Girls? One boy? One girl?"

"Well, this one's a girl," said Sam, who was cradling the now wrapped up baby.

"And this one's a boy," said the doctor, handing him to one of the nurses to get wrapped up.

Ozaki smiled at Miyuki, who had tears in her eyes. "A boy and a girl, huh? What do you think we should name them?"

Sam handed the baby girl to Miyuki. Miyuki looked into the child's eyes and she made a quiet cooing sound. Miyuki smiled and her tears of joy landed on the baby's forehead.

"Emma. She's Emma Ana Ozaki." Miyuki said, smiling in the direction of her sister, who was crying but looked overjoyed.

Ozaki smiled. "I think that's a perfect name."

One of the nurses came back with the boy, wrapped in blankets now too.

"X," said Ozaki. "Why don't you hold your nephew?"

"Uhhh, sure," said X.

The nurse handed the baby to X. X looked at him a bit uneasily, then the baby's eyes opened, staring directly at him. X looked into the baby's eyes and felt a sudden sense of affection. Something he was not used to.

"So… what are you gonna name him?" he asked Ozaki.

Ozaki paused. "Uhhh… Miyuki?"

Miyuki laughed slightly. She knew Ozaki was horrible at naming things.

"How about…" she surveyed the room, her eyes eventually coming to Sam. "…Sam?"

There was an unusual silence in the room. Ozaki looked at Miyuki, then back to Sam.

"Err… are you sure?" he asked Miyuki. Ozaki usually went by whatever Miyuki wanted, but this time, he seemed to object.

"Yes," said Miyuki, sick and tired of Ozaki's intolerant behavior. "Sam Shinichi Ozaki. I think that's a perfect name."

Ozaki looked at Sam, who shrugged. He surveyed the room. Nobody had anything to say. Nobody dared.

"F…fine," Ozaki said finally. But his expression said, "Don't expect me to ever call him that."

Grover meekly took another picture.


	11. Kaisers

**Chapter Ten: Kaisers**

An hour or two had passed since the twins' birth. Miyuki was asleep in her hospital bed and the others were looking through the window of the hospital nursery at the sleeping twins.

"Well," said Ozaki. "They're already born. So what are we going to do about them being Kaiser?"

Grover stared at the twins quizzically. "Those two are Kaiser?"

X rolled his eyes. "Of course they're Kaiser, Grover."

"Well, not exactly," said Sam.

Everyone looked at him, puzzled.

"You see, Emma and Sam are only half Kaiser," Sam went on. "Since you have half Xilian and half human blood, Ozaki, and Miyuki has purely human blood, the Kaiser genes are repressed slightly. They won't be as powerful as the two of you, but you can bet that they'll still be substantially strong."

"But how can you be sure that they'll be Kaiser?" asked Milo. "I thought the odds were one in a million?"

"Well…" said Sam, looking embarrassed. "I may have exaggerated things a bit. But truth is stranger than fiction. You see, the universe is full of Kaisers. Like your mutant comrades, Ozaki. However, they are not full Kaisers. Nor are they half-Kaisers. You could say they are one-quarter Kaisers. And even that's being generous. I just call them 'Lesser Kaisers'."

"But, how's that possible?" asked Zan.

"Well, like I said. Truth is stranger than fiction," Sam replied. "X, Ozaki. Until your mother and I had you two, there had been no full-blooded Kaisers in existence. When your grandfather and my father, Lucas Lee Sendjin, predicted the birth of a legendary, half human, half Xilian warrior who would change the fate of the universe, he was unaware of the certain… circumstances under which that warrior would have to be born."

"What circumstances?" X asked him.

"Well, most pious Xilians believe that the partnership between the Kaiser's parents has to be blessed by Eywa for the Kaiser to reach its full potential," Sam explained. "Lesser Kaisers were born to Xilians who kidnapped and raped humans, as unbelievable as that sounds. Naturally Eywa wouldn't bless them for that, so the Kaiser was lesser. In our case, however, I loved your mother more than I'd ever loved anyone in my life. So we got Eywa's blessing. Hence, you two are full-blooded Kaisers."

"So… X and Ozaki are full Kaisers because you and your wife loved each other?" asked Grover.

"Well you may be oversimplifying it, Grover. But yes, that sums it up," replied Sam.

"Well, that's all well and good," Ozaki interjected. "But what can we do about these two? It won't look good if our kids start repelling bullets and jumping off walls when they're toddlers."

X's fingers began crackling with energy. "Well… we could always…"

The expected simultaneous "No!" came from all sides.

"Ok, ok, sorry I was kidding!" X replied.

"I can seal away their Kaiser powers until they're older," Sam informed them. "That's what I did with X and Ozaki."

"All right, but it better not hurt them," said Ozaki.

"Don't worry. It won't," Sam replied. He began muttering something in ancient Xilian and a magical essence flew from his fingers and through the glass window of the nursery. It went through the glass around Emma and Sam's cribs and surrounded their sleeping bodies before being absorbed into them.

"Ok," said Sam. "You shouldn't have anything to worry about for now."

"Good," said Ozaki. "I'm going to go check on Miyuki." He went down the hallway, leaving the Xilians at the nursery window.


	12. Kendra's Decision

**Chapter 11: Kendra's Decision. **

Kendra looked at Emma and Sam with an affectionate smile, as they lay sound asleep in their cribs.

"They're like little angels…" she said out loud.

Everyone looked at her strangely. They'd never known Kendra to say anything like that or act in any such manner. She'd always been a tough, no-nonsense individual. Hearing words such words from her was unusual.

"Uhhh, yeah I guess they are…" said X nervously.

"Miyuki always told me about how lucky she felt to be having kids when we spent time together," she went on. "I kind of felt jealous of her. Of her having a loving husband and starting a family and all of that."

Nobody liked where this was going.

X was the fool to speak up first. "W… what are you saying, Kendra?"

"I guess I'm saying…" she began. "…I want to have a baby."

Everyone in the room was taken aback. This was the last thing they'd ever expected to hear from Kendra.

"B-but sis!" protested Zan. "You're a soldier! You're a warrior! How could you ever take care of a baby?"

"I guess… I'd have to retire," she replied.

Nobody expected anything like this. Kendra loved fighting. Her sword was like an extension of her. And she was willing to be rid of it so easily? This had to be a joke.

"Kendra, you're being rash," said Milo. "You don't know anything about taking care of a child."

"Yes I do!" Kendra insisted. "Miyuki told me everything she had to do. I'll be fine, trust me."

"Ok but…" X began unsteadily, fearing the solution to this. "…You're not married. You don't even have a boyfriend."

"Well…" Kendra began. "That's where you guys come in."

Zan was gone in an instant, not wanting to see or hear anymore. Milo teleported from the vicinity in a half second. Grover, known for his speed, was already halfway down the hallway. X was the only one left, his reaction time somehow impaired by Kendra's response. Kendra looked at him with puppy dog eyes. An innumerable amount of thoughts were rushing through X's head at once. He could barely process everything that was going on. All he could manage out of his mouth was "NO WAY" before turning tail and running down the hallway. In an instant, Kendra's innocent act was gone and she was after X with the speed of a bullet. Like a feral animal she pounced on him, holding him down with all her strength.

"I'M SORRY? WHAT WAS YOUR ANSWER?" she asked him viciously.

"DAD!" yelled X. "HELP ME!"

Sam chuckled to himself as he walked away. "Sorry, son! This is your fight!"

X blasted Kendra off of him and rose to his feet in an instant, trying to escape. Kendra drew a knife and quickly stabbed in through the end of X's long coat. X threw the coat off of him and took off down the hallway. With expert precision, Kendra hurled another knife. It hooked X by the sleeve and impaled him to the wall. Kendra was upon him in a second, holding the knife to his throat.

"THIS IS ASSAULT!" X yelled in his defense.

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT IT IS!" Kendra screamed back. "NOW IS YOUR ANSWER ANY DIFFERENT?"

"OK, OK!" X yelled in reply. "BUT I ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY OF IT!"

Kendra was taken aback. Her expression of anger turned to one of utter shock. Was X really this oblivious? Or was she not handling this right at all? Her plan had worked, but only to half of its intent. X had agreed, but… the other part of her goal had not been reached. Kendra lowered the knife and freed X from the wall. She knew the other half was beyond achieving at this point.

"Ok… fine," she replied, walking silently down the hall.

X retrieved his coat as Zan, Milo, and Grover appeared.

"Well?" asked Milo.

"We're gonna do it…" X replied. "But I'm not assuming any responsibility for it."

Zan rubbed the back of his head, exhaling deeply. "This is… difficult to take in. My baby sister having a kid…"

"Well from that little episode, I'm convinced she's ready," Grover said, looking around the room.

"Yeah," replied X. "But I don't know if I am…"


	13. A Price to Pay

**Chapter Twelve: A Price to Pay.**

For the sake of respect, Kendra decided to become pregnant before Ozaki and Miyuki brought the twins home, wanting to make it a surprise for them to not worry about while Miyuki was recovering. Plus, she didn't want X to chicken out. It was several days before the Ozakis were coming home, so Kendra chose to get it over and done with. On January 29th, she told X that it was the day. As he made his way grudgingly to Kendra's bedroom, the others offered him words of good luck. X knew he would need it. He felt almost like he was impregnating his sister. He and Kendra had been best friends since they were children. He was fully prepared for how awkward this was going to feel…

When X and Kendra had finished their… business, X was quick to get up and leave the room. He couldn't be there with her due to what was going on in his head. It had been nothing like he'd anticipated. It didn't feel as awkward as he'd expected. In fact, it almost felt… right. He couldn't explain it, but it felt almost as if he was meant to be there with Kendra. As he passed by Sam without saying anything, Sam could tell what he was thinking. And by the look in X's eyes, he could tell why this was this case. It was Eywa. It had to be. She blessed their partnership. X didn't know it yet, but it was meant to be. He wanted to tell him, but he was confident that X would figure it out for himself. He was, after all, a Kaiser.

Kendra, on the other hand, was left crying into her pillow. She'd wanted something like this to happen for years, but after all of her waiting, it wasn't even real. She was left in her bedroom, feeling empty as a child began to grow inside of her.


	14. Meant to Be

**Chapter Thirteen: Meant to Be**

Ozaki and Miyuki had returned from the hospital with Emma and Sam. Miyuki looked well. She'd already lost a great deal of baby fat in the hospital, and the twins were looking healthy as could be. Sam had taken a habit of grabbing people's fingers, while Emma was already making sounds, but nothing reminiscent of human speech. Kendra, however, decided she wasn't ready to tell them about her pregnancy just yet, given the current climate. Consequently, Sam was growing slightly concerned for them. X and Kendra hadn't spoken for days since Kendra was impregnated. In fact, Kendra refrained from speaking to anyone at all, spending most of her time locked in her bedroom. Zan tried talking to her on several occasions, all of which ended with her shrieking at him to leave her alone. Not even Sam, who she saw as a father, could get through to her.

Then there was X, who felt completely at fault. He thought all along that he was the one suffering after that experience, having been forced into it. Only now, he realized that he'd taken from Kendra just as much as she'd taken from him. She'd gotten what she wanted, but in a very perverse way. He was beginning to feel as empty as she did. He'd given her something that they were meant to share together, but he'd left it all to her.

"…What have I done to Kendra?" X asked himself one day while he was sitting in front of the TV watching another Visitor press conference. "I've abandoned somebody I love to something that I'm obligated to help her with… I never wanted to go through with this. I should've said no! Then we'd both be better off. Oh Eywa, help me! What do I do?"

Suddenly, everything in the room started disintegrating. X watched in shock as the entire apartment disappeared and, in its place, grass began growing out of the floor and trees began rising out of the ground around him. X closed his eyes for several seconds, not wanting to see any more. When he opened them, he found himself standing in the middle of a huge forest, under a massive glowing willow tree.

X looked around nervously. He felt like he knew this place, but had no idea how. As he approached the tree's branches, his neural queue began emerging from his wrist, almost as if it wanted him to connect with the branch. He grasped the branch of the tree and the tendrils of his queue wrapped around it. Almost instantly, voices began echoing in X's head. Somehow, the voices sounded familiar, so X did not panic. But one voice loomed over them all. It sounded like a female's voice, and it spoke in a strange language. However, somehow, X could understand every word.

"Are you…Eywa?" X asked.

The voice responded and X knew the answer was yes.

"Eywa, please. I need your help," X said, unaware that he was no longer speaking English. "My closest friend is with child because of me. I didn't want to but… I went through with it for her sake. But I feel now like I've betrayed her. I love her and I can't stand bearing the guilt of what I've done. What can I do to fix this?"

The voice responded in the strange tongue.

"Yes…" X replied. "Of course I truly love her. I always have. It's just… I don't know if I'm ready for something like this."

The voice responded again.

"Hey… you're right," X said. "If I truly love her, I _should_ be willing to undergo anything for her. And if she wants this child, I should want it too."

The voice spoke again.

"Do I truly want it? Well… if Kendra truly wants it… then yes. I do. I understand everything now! When we did it… it didn't feel awkward to me. You were trying to get through to me, weren't you Eywa? You were trying to tell me that this is how it is meant to be… Kendra and I… we're meant for each other, aren't we? That's why I couldn't run away when she expressed the desire for a child. Or why I couldn't just leave her that day when we were kids."

The voice responded one final time.

"I knew it…" X said. "I think I always knew it… and this means I've got to go back. I NEED to go back!"

In a flash, X sat up on the couch he'd fallen asleep on.

His eyes widened. "KENDRA!"

X sprang off of the couch and bolted to Kendra's bedroom door. He stopped in front of it. He could hear Kendra sobbing inside. Gently, he knocked on the door.

Kendra's shaky voice answered. "W…who is it?"

"It's me," X replied. "It's X. Can I come in?"

There was no response. X assumed no shrieks in the negative meant yes. He slowly opened the door and saw Kendra, sitting up in bed, trying to wipe away her tears.

"I… I have something I need to tell you." X said.

"No wait X. Before you say anything, _I _have something to tell _you_." Kendra said. "I… I should've never forced you to do this. It's just… I wanted a child so badly… I didn't think once about your feelings. We don't have to have this baby if you don't want to. It's just… all I'm really trying to say is… I'm sor-."

Before Kendra could finish, X silenced her by pressing his lips against hers in a passionate kiss.

"You don't have to say anything else," X said, wiping a tear off of her cheek. "I love you. And that means we're going to do this together. This is our baby we're talking about, and he's going to have the best mom and dad he can get."

Kendra was awestruck. "But… I thought…"

"So did I once," X replied. "But I can't let you do this on your own. We're going to have a family, Kendra. And I want to be by your side the entire way."

Kendra couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Does that mean you're… you're…"

Answering her question, X climbed off the bed and got on one knee on the floor.

"Kendra Amelia Kelar, will you marry me?"

Kendra's hands cupped around her mouth, her eyes wide in shock.

"I'll be the best husband and father I can possibly be. I promise that I'll always be by your side when you need me. I-"

Kendra put a finger to X's lips.

"You don't have to say anything else," she replied, smiling through her tears.

Kendra threw her arms around X's neck and X's around her waist. The two of them were joined in a passionate kiss as they collapsed onto Kendra's bed together, locked in a loving embrace.

Grover entered the apartment with small package in hand.

"Hey Sam! Where's X?"

"In Kendra's room," Sam replied. "He wanted to patch things up with her."

"Ok. I got him a new xPod. Y'know, cuz I broke his old one."

"Oh yes, I remember that disaster," Sam replied.

Grover walked to Kendra's door and opened it without knocking. Before he could say anything, he got a glimpse of what was going on in Kendra's bed. Slowly, and with his mouth still wide open, he closed the door and turned around slowly.

"Well…" Grover said to himself. "I guess they settled things."


	15. Kendra Sendjin

**Chapter Fourteen: Kendra Sendjin**

Everyone was thrilled to find out about X and Kendra's engagement. Sam was proud to hear it, as he'd been friends with Kendra's father before his death. Miyuki, on the other hand, was more overjoyed to hear that Kendra was pregnant. Zan, who was proud of X for stepping up the plate so easily, was more than willing to give Kendra away. Their little experience on the game preserve planet was all the cause he needed to trust X with Kendra. Given the mixed emotions others might be feeling toward the Xilians, they chose to make the wedding a private matter.

Sam, being the Xilian Racial Leader, was there to marry the two of them. Ozaki was X's best man and Miyuki was Kendra's maid of honor. Zan was there to give Kendra away, and Grover was the ring-bearer, only to arrive late, having spent several hours going through his jacket pockets looking for the ring. It was a quiet wedding, but one full of emotion for everyone.

And so, that was that. X and Kendra were now happily married, anxiously awaiting the birth of their baby. Unfortunately, for X, it was a less than enjoyable wait.

A prime example would be one day when Ozaki and Miyuki heard a knock on their door. Ozaki proceeded to open the door to see X, looking very worse for wear

"Oh, hi X. C'mon in."

"Thanks," X replied. "I just needed to get out of the house."

"Why?" asked Miyuki, who was feeding the kids. "What's wrong?"

"It's Kendra," X explained. "She's been all moody and stuff lately."

"Ooh that. Yeah, I shoulda warned you about that," Ozaki said, pouring X a drink. "I barely survived when Miyuki went through that."

Miyuki stopped what she was doing. "What?"

"Nothing," Ozaki replied quickly before turning back to X. "So, what did she do?"

X began thinking back on it with great disdain. "Well, first…"

_Kendra slammed her hand on the table. "X! WHY IS THERE A PEN CAP ON THE TABLE AND NO PEN?"_

_"I dont know! Maybe Grover left it there," X replied meekly._

_"TELL GROVER HE'S A SELF ABSORBED JERK!" Kendra screamed in reply._

_"... Really?" X asked._

_"NO, NOT REALLY, YOU JACKASS!"_

_Kendra slumped into a chair, sobbing hysterically. X approached her slowly, like a hunter who wasn't sure if the elephant they'd shot was dead yet._

_"Uhm... are you ok?"_

_"YES I'M OK! SHUT UP!" Kendra shrieked._

_"Ok well..." X said, backing away slowly, "I'm going to Ozaki's for a while..."_

_Kendra sat up immediately. "NOOO! I'LL BE LONELY!"_

_"It won't be for too long."_

_"YOU CAN GO LIVE THERE FOR ALL I CARE!"_

_"Ok... I'm gonna leave before things get any more..."_

_Kendra glared at X with eyes of death. "ANY MORE WHAT?"_

_Like a hunter who'd disturbed the injured elephant, X bolted out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Immediately, Kendra broke down into sobs._

_"HE LEFT ME!"_

"Oof," said Ozaki. "That's rough. Don't worry about it, she'll cool off eventually."

"I sure hope so. I don't know if I can take seven more months of this…" X replied.


	16. A Kodak Moment

**Chapter Fifteen: Caught on Camera**

Sure enough, the worst was yet to come. For almost seven months, X weathered through Kendra's constant mood swings, unusual cravings, and nausea. He lent as much support as he could, but often times he found himself hiding from her rage or getting thrown out of the house. Milo, Grover, and Zan often talked about X, wondering how he's able to put up with Kendra. When they did, Sam would often interject with the answer "Because he loves her". Sure enough, this was truly the answer. Ozaki could vouch for him, having gone through the exact same thing.

For this reason, X pushed through the arduous months of emotional and physical abuse from his own wife. When finally, on October 21st, it all came to a halt. Kendra and X were sitting across the table from each other; X was bracing himself for another moody explosion.

Finally Kendra spoke, "...X?"

X jumped in shock and nearly fell out of his chair. "Y-yeah?"

"I think my water just broke..." she replied.

X paused for a minute. "...Your what did what?"

Sam burst in from the other room. "IT MEANS THE BABY IS COMING, YOU IDIOT!"

X flew out of his chair in an instant. "SHIT! CALL OZAKI! TO THE HOSPITAL!"

He and Sam joined hands with Kendra and they vanished. Moments later they re-appeared in the hospital waiting room, much to the shock of the doctors and patients present.

"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?" one of them yelled.

"NO TIME!" X yelled. "SHE'S HAVING A BABY!"

Hours later, the same routine as before was taking place in a hospital room. Kendra's screams rivaled even Miyuki's.

"AAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH!"

"OWWWW," X screamed, his hand wrenched at least 180 degrees. "THIS IS WORSE THAN BOTH TIMES COMBINED!"

"C'mon X, be strong!" Sam said. "...And you too, Kendra."

"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Kendra shrieked. "NO ONE TOLD ME IT'D BE THIS BAD!"

"Don't even talk, Kendra," Miyuki replied. "I had twins."

Ozaki grabbed Miyuki's shoulder. "Not the time, honey!"

"You're doing great Kendra," Sam said to her. "Take deep breaths and keep pushing."

"Mr. Ozaki," said one of the doctors. "Check the baby's heartbeat monitor, will you?"

Ozaki examined the machine. Naturally the heartbeat was abnormally slow, the baby being Xilian, but he kept this to himself.

"Looks alright to me," Ozaki said to the doctor.

"AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHH! OH DEAR LORD!" Kendra screamed, clutching her husband's hand.

"Your doing fine," Sam said to her calmly. "Deep breaths,"

X's hand was wrenched to one side at this point.

"Oww, oww!" X groaned. "By Eywa, just push it out already!"

Kendra glared at him through her tears of pain.

More time passed. By now, Grover, Milo, and Zan had arrived from the club they'd been at.

"IS THIS GUNNA BE MUCH LONGER?" X yelled.

"Almost there!" the doctor said. "Keep pushing, miss!"

"Calm down, you wuss," Sam said to X. "You should be used to it by now! GROVER, PUT AWAY THE CAMERA!"

Grover lowered the camera pointed at Kendra. "…Sorry."

"AAAAUUUGGGH, I HATE YOU GROVER!" Kendra screamed.

"C'mon Kendra, you can do it!" Ozaki encouraged her.

"Ok, I can see the head!" the doctor reported. "You're doing great!"

"OWWW YES..." X groaned as his index finger cracked. "YOU'RE DOING GREAT…"

The longest minute of everybody present's lives soon passed.

"Congratulations!" said the doctor, holding up the screaming newborn. "It's a boy!"

Kendra, still catching her breath, let out a gasp of excitement. "A boy!"

X smiled weakly. "You, uh, can let go now."

Kendra released her vicegrip and X stretched out his mangled hand. The doctor wrapped up the baby and handed him to Kendra. A flash of light went by her face.

"GROVER!" yelled Sam. "Put it away! NOW!"

Grover meekly put the camera in his jacket pocket. "Sorry…"

Miyuki leaned over Kendra's shoulder to get a glimpse of the baby.

"You did it, Kendra!"

Tears began pouring down Kendra's face as she looked into the faint eyes of her baby.

"Ohhh, don't cry!" X said. "I know it hurt, but don't cry!"

Kendra looked up at X and, with a voice that sounded short of breath, said, "I'm crying because I'm happy!"

"Ohhh…" said X, feeling idiotic. To make up for it, he leaned over and kissed Kendra lightly on the lips. Another flash of light occurred.

"GROVER!" Kendra, X, and Sam shouted all at the same time.

Ozaki glared at Grover and he tossed the camera behind him. Milo was smiling broadly and Zan was fighting back tears.

Kendra gazed into the baby's eyes. "Finally, I have a child..." she said. "Thank you so much X..."

"No, thank you Kendra," X replied. "For giving me the honor of being the father." He leaned forward and kissed her again.

Miyuki smiled. "Awww, how sweet!"

"We'd better give them a moment," said Sam, motioning for the others to leave as yet another flash of light passed by him. Immediately, he drew his gun and shot the camera, exploding it into pieces.

"Ok, ok! Sheesh…" Grover muttered.


	17. Ezio

**Chapter Sixteen: Ezio**

By now, everyone had cleared out of the room, giving X and Kendra a little privacy as parents.

"You wanna hold him?" Kendra asked him.

"Sure," X smiled. Kendra handed the baby off to him. He cradled him in his arms as the baby slowly opened his eyes for the first time. He looked at X with his bright blue eyes and made what looked like a faint smile. X smiled back at him.

"He has your smile," he told Kendra.

"Well, let's just hope he doesn't have your laugh," Kendra replied.

X frowned at her and she laughed to herself.

Meanwhile, outside of the room, Grover was laughing to himself.

"You may have shot the camera," he said to Sam. "But I kept the memory chip!" He brandished it in front of Sam's face, who grabbed it out of Grover's hand in a second.

"Well Ozaki," Miyuki said. "Now you're a father AND an uncle!"

"Yeah," smiled Ozaki. "And they're all Kaisers. Well, half-Kaisers at least."

"I'm going to lock his powers too," Sam added. "Because X's child will probably be 10x worse!"

Everyone laughed.

"Hey," said Zan. "The sun is up. I say we get some breakfast. We can bring back some for X and Kendra."

"Good idea, I'm starved!" said Milo.

In a flash of light, they were gone. Across the street at a bakery, somebody screamed in shock.

Before long, the others returned with pastries and coffee. They passed by the hospital nursery and saw X standing at the window, looking down at the baby.

"You should've been there, X!" Grover laughed. "We scared the crap out of an old lady!"

"I'm sure you did," X replied. "Face like yours, you'd scare the crap out of anybody."

There were many 'ohhh's from the others. Grover lowered his head, pretending to be depressed.

"Hey, so did you two decide on a name while we were gone?" Zan asked him.

"Yep," X replied. He looked down at the squirming baby in the nursery. "His name is Ezio Brom Sendjin."

Sam smiled. Brom was the name of Kendra's late father, who was a good friend of his before he died.

"Ezio, huh?" said Grover. "Where'd you get that one from?"

"Kendra said she wanted his name to be unique, like mine," X explained. "I'd heard the name in a book and I thought it sounded unique."

"Sure is," Milo replied. "It's a great name."

"Well I'm sure Kendra's starving," said Zan. "Let's bring her some grub!"

He, along with Ozaki, Miyuki, and the other Xilians headed off toward Kendra's room. Sam, however, stayed behind with X. The two of them looked at baby Ezio from outside.

"He's got your eyes, dad," said X.

Sam smiled. "I noticed. X, I couldn't be more proud of you. You stepped up to the plate and now you're going to be a great father."

X laughed nervously. "I sure hope so. I hope I can be as good a father as you."

Sam thought back on X's actions in 2561.

"X," he said. "Be a BETTER father than me."

X laughed slightly and the two of them began walking in the direction of Kendra's room.


	18. Truth

**Chapter Seventeen: Truth**

X and Sam were crossing the hallway. Kendra's room was in sight. Before they opened the door, X spoke up.

"Hey dad?"

"Yeah?" Sam responded.

"Whatever happened to my mother, anyway?"

Sam stopped dead in his tracks. His face froze up and his hand was hovering over the door handle.

"…Dad?" asked X.

"I… don't like talking about it, X," Sam replied, about to go for the door handle again.

"Well, I was just curious," X said. "I never found out, and I just want to know what-"

Sam turned his head around quickly. "X! Please, I don't want to talk about it!"

X looked away, shocked by his father's behavior.

"I'm sorry, father," he said, clearly looking grieved. "I just never found out, and I just wanted to know."

Sam sighed heavily. He looked like he was about to speak, but was having a hard time getting the words out.

"…She died in childbirth."

X turned to look at Sam with an expression of surprise.

"YOU'RE SAYING… THAT I DID IT?"

Sam turned back quickly. "It's not your fault X, none of it was! This is why I didn't tell you; you would get so upset that you'd think it's entirely your fault. X…trust me…you are not responsible for your mother's death, it happens."

X sighed and looked away again.

"So…She never got to see me? Not for one second?"

Sam was too pained to say anything back. He simply shook his head. X turned his back to Sam, trying to hold back tears.

"I'm sorry, son…" he said. X didn't respond, so Sam headed back into Kendra's room, leaving X outside to cool off.

"Mother…" X said to himself, clearly not clean of his guilt. "I'm sorry…"


	19. Addiction

**Chapter Eighteen: Addiction**

A week or so later, Kendra and X brought home baby Ezio, who was showing abnormally impressive motor skills already. Zan had given him a wooden play sword, hoping that he'd one day follow in his parents' footsteps. He'd taken to crawling around with the sword, swinging it like mad.

"He loves that sword," Kendra mentioned one day. "I'm glad he could actually pick it up!"

"I'm surprised to see him swing at only a month or so old," X added. "Maybe he could practice outside to prevent further damages to the apartment."

Kendra laughed. "Fine, if it makes you happy."

X smiled and leaned in to kiss her.

"Aww, isn't that cute!" said Grover, who'd just walked in.

"You know, Grover," X said irritatingly. "There's this thing called 'knocking'."

Grover laughed and saw Ezio crawl in with his sword in hand.

"Oh, hey little guy!" said Grover. "Got your sword?"

Ezio swung the sword 360 degrees, falling down and hitting Grover in the leg at the same time.

"Oww!" yelled Grover. "He DEFINITELY has Kendra's strength."

X and Kendra laughed.

"So, Grover, what did you want?" X asked him.

"Want!" exclaimed Grover like he was offended by it. "Nothing! I just wanted to drop in and say hi to my best bud and his wife!"

Neither X nor Kendra were convinced.

"Ok, how much money do you want?" Kendra asked Grover.

"Ohhh just a couple hundred or so..." Grover replied innocently.

X sighed exasperatedly. "Look Grover, we're not on Planet X anymore, so we don't have the royal treasury to take money out of. We have to WORK for money now, not like you ever worked a day in your life."

"C'mon please?" Grover begged. "As soon as I start getting lucky at the casino I'll pay you back!"

"WHAT?" Kendra's voice shook the foundations of the building. Ezio started crying and X turned off the Visitors' press conference he was watching and ran to him quickly.

"YOU SPENT ALL THE MONEY SAM GAVE YOU ON GAMBLING?" she screamed angrily at Grover.

"I can't help it!" Grover said meekly. "It's an addiction!"

Kendra lunged toward him. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" She grabbed him by the shirt and started shaking him repeatedly, in accordance with each word.

"IT… WAS... $4,000! YOU WASTED IT ALL? SAM WORKED HARD FOR THAT MONEY! I'M GOING TO KILL Y-"

Before she could finish, X walked back into the room with Ezio in his arms. Tears were running down Ezio's cheeks as he clutched his father's jacket.

"Kendra, calm down!" he said. "What happened?"

"HE SPENT THE $4,000 FROM SAM AT THE CASINO!" Kendra screamed at him. "THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!"

X glared angrily at Grover. Ezio let out another sob and X walked back into the other room to hush him.

"You might as well preserve whatever self-respect you have left and tell Sam," Kendra told Grover.

"NOOO!" Grover yelled in terror. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE'LL DO TO ME?"

"Do what?"

Sam had just walked into the room from work. Grover whirled around in horror.

"Hehe, Sam… I uhh- i was just..."

"Tell him, Grover," said Kendra with a great deal of spite in her voice.

Grover swallowed. "Well you see Sam… I... Uhm..."

"Yes, Grover?"

"I... Just wanted to tell you that..." Grover said nervously. "Ozaki said he wanted to ask you something. Something about his mom."

"…I see," said Sam, looking very sullen. "Alright, I'll see you guys later"

Sam teleported from the room and Kendra grabbed Grover by the collar.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, YOU DIRTY BASTARD?"

"That was me saving my skin!" Grover replied.

"YOU LIED TO SAM, YOU IDIOT!" Kendra screamed.

X came in from the other room, rocking a wailing Ezio.

"Even I've never directly lied to Sam like that! Because I know the consequences! He will eat you alive! Especially since you used such a personal matter to escape your punishment!"

"No, he won't find me," replied Grover. "Because by then I'll be back on Planet X where he'll never find me!"

"YOU SELF CENTERED BRAT!" Kendra screamed, enraged beyond belief. "FIRST YOU WASTE ALL THE HARD EARNED MONEY SAM GAVE YOU, THEN YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ALL OF US! WE DIDN'T HAVE TO BRING YOU BACK HERE WITH US YOU KNOW! HELL, WE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO BRING YOU BACK TO LIFE AT ALL! SAM SAID HE THOUGHT YOUD EARNED IT, WHICH CLEARLY YOU DIDN'T. I HATE YOU!"

She stormed out of the room in a rage, leaving Grover awestruck. X turned to look at Grover, glaring at him angrily.

"You'd best go before you lose your head."

"Fine," Grover replied. He turned his back to X and teleported.


	20. Resolution

**Chapter Nineteen: Resolution**

Grover had left the apartment without a note or anything of the sort. He was simply walking through the streets with his hands in his pockets. His ship was located on the outskirts of town. As he walked, Kendra's words still rang in his ears. 'Brat', 'idiot', 'dirty bastard', and the rest. As much as he resented the words, he knew Kendra had been right. This addiction was something he'd inherited. His father had always been a gambling addict and gambled away a great deal of his family's money. Hence, when Grover came of age, Sam paid for him to be admitted to the soldier academy. Now Grover felt terrible. Like he'd spit in Sam's face despite all he'd done for him. Now he was resolute. He had to get a job. Somewhere. He needed to pay Sam back for everything.

Grover was about to turn tail and head back to the apartment, when something tapped his shoulder. He turned but saw nobody there. His other shoulder was tapped similarly and he turned again. Still nothing. Then, something lowered above his head. It looked almost like… a tail; a long green tail with a bladed tip. The tail tapped him and began retracting in another direction. Curious, Grover followed the tail. It led him towards a dark alleyway. Completely oblivious as to what he was walking into, Grover followed the tail like a moth to flame. When it finally reached its owner, Grover looked into a pair of dark eyes, looking down at him. Grover was frozen with terror and shock, but the tail bound his arm. He couldn't run.

Back at the apartment, Sam returned from speaking to Ozaki.

"Well, I think Grover made another mistake," he said to X and Kendra. "Ozaki didn't know what I was talking about. But I told him anyway."

"That's not the only mistake Grover made recently," X replied.

"Oh no. What did he do this time?"

Kendra burst into the room before X could talk. "HE GAMBLED AWAY THE MONEY YOU GAVE HIM!"

Sam looked appalled for a minute, and then sighed exasperatedly. "I should've anticipated this. Just like Valtaur…"

Kendra raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"His father," X answered.

"Yes," said Sam. "Valtaur was a gambler too. And a pathological liar. Grover got it from him, no doubt. I thought he'd have outlived that addiction, but I guess not."

Kendra suddenly began feeling a sudden wave of guilt. She knew nothing about Grover's past until now, and she felt like she'd great misunderstood him. Instead of trying to help him with his addiction, she'd scared him away. Still, that didn't excuse the fact that he owed Sam a great deal and running away was selfish.

"Anyway, we'd better go find him," Sam said.

"He said he was going back home," X explained.

"Yeah right," Sam scoffed. "He doesn't even know the way. Or how to work the autopilot."


	21. Part of the Workforce

**Chapter Twenty: Part of the Workforce.**

Sam, thinking ahead, had installed tracking devices into the wrist-devices of all of the Xilians. So finding Grover was no difficulty. The radar detected him near the outskirts of the city, but on his way back toward the city. Sam, X, and Kendra all teleported to confront him. Sure enough, they found him exiting an alleyway in the exact location that the radar had picked him up. As soon as he made eye contact with them, an expression of terror flashed across Grover's face. But, he didn't run. He looked almost paralyzed in fear. Sam walked calmly up to him, glaring down at him.

"S…Sam?" said Grover meekly. "I'm… sorry."

X and Kendra looked at each other. It was unlike Grover to admit his mistakes. Or even be aware of them.

"I couldn't help it!" he went on. "It's an addiction! I just see the money and the slot machines and I can't restrain myself! I promise you, I'll pay you back! I'll find a job!"

This astounded all three of them. Grover was as lazy as they come. He'd never devoted to anything besides his academy training, and now he was suddenly proposing to get a job?

"Grover," said Sam calmly. "It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you."

Grover breathed a sigh of relief. "But I'm gonna get a job, I swear! You paid for my tuition so I'm gonna pay you back!"

X and Kendra were awestruck. But, at the same time, impressed.

"I just… need help finding one," Grover added finally.

Sam spoke to Ozaki, who proposed getting Grover a job in the EDF. He was a keen pilot when he wanted to be, and they could use him aboard one of their new battleships. Grover was placed alongside X, Ozaki, and Gordon aboard a smaller ship, the _Super X_, meant for fighting monsters. At first, it looked like Grover would be able to achieve his goal.

One afternoon, however, X, Ozaki, and Gordon nervously filed a report with Commander Namikawa.

"So, how did it go?" she asked them.

"Well…" said Ozaki. "…not well. Grover fired a missile into the capital building."

"Well, that's nothing we haven't fixed before," replied the Commander.

"We switched him to pilot duty and he tried to steer us toward Rodan and we hit a large building," X continued. "The drill is wrecked."

"We can fix that… hopefully," said the Commander nervously.

"…And then he forgot to mention that one of the engine cores had exploded and we shut down in mid flight. Rodan got away and we wrecked an entire city block," Gordon finished.

The Commander sighed deeply with exasperation.

"Tell Grover to meet me in my office…"

Sure enough, Grover walked into the Commander's office an hour or so later. He looked extremely uneasy, because he knew what was coming.

"…You wanted to see me, Commander?" he asked.

"Grover... I have heard that your performance against Rodan was… not so good…" she explained to him. "I am sorry to say that we can't have such behavior here. I'm sorry, but you're fired."

Grover hung his head and exhaled deeply. He walked out of the Commander's office and found X and Ozaki outside waiting for him.

"She fired you?" X exclaimed, even though, in the back of his mind, he knew it was inevitable.

Grover sighed. "I'm still going to work to pay off the $4,000 though," he said. "Hey, by the way…"

"What?" Ozaki asked him.

"What does Sam do?" Grover inquired.

X and Ozaki looked at each other and smiled.

"You have NO idea," said X.

"Well, what is it?" Grover asked again.

X grasped Grover and Ozaki's hands and they teleported. When they re-appeared, Grover looked around in shock. He found himself in a lush, green, mountainous area, and, swarming the area and flying about the bright blue sky, were thousands of mountain banshees.

"HE… TAMES… IKRAN?" Grover exclaimed excitedly.

He got a glimpse of Sam standing atop one of the mountain ledges. A banshee hissed at him threateningly. Sam didn't budge at all, but simply hissed back in a much more threatening manner. The banshee backed down and flew back onto a rocky wall. In an instant, Grover had teleported to Sam's side. He grabbed him by the shoulder.

"…I'M IN!"


	22. Ikran Makto

**Chapter Twenty-One: Ikran Makto.**

Something that few know is that the Xilians and the Na'vi are closely linked. They once shared the same home, the fifth moon of Polyphemus, Pandora. The Na'vi chose a more spiritual life as children of their goddess, Eywa. Some Na'vi, however, chose to make better use of the gifts Eywa had given then, such as the mineral unobtanium. They settled in an oceanic area of Pandora previously unexplored by the Na'vi. There, using the unobtanium and other natural resources, they built a far more advanced society. They developed unheard of technologies, such as cloaking devices that hid their location from the human colonists. The Na'vi took to calling them Xilians, which soon became Na'vi for outcast or exile. Eventually, their existence became unknown to the descendants of the oldest Na'vi. Until, however, the Great War between planets erupted and the Xilians were driven from Pandora by invaders. They settled on a moon of the planet Jupiter that would later become known as Planet X and the Na'vi were left to themselves.

Despite seceding from the Na'vi almost altogether, the Xilians still kept a close relationship with their goddess Eywa. Even though their secession had caused them to rapidly evolve and change appearance, the Xilians still kept their neural queues, now having been relocated within their wrist veins. As a result, their Na'vi heritage was preserved. Sam was one of the few Xilians who wanted to make sure that said heritage wasn't forgotten. Hence, he'd taken to breeding and taming ikran to bond with Xilians.

Grover was ecstatic. He'd heard all about ikran as a child and now his childhood stories were coming to life.

"PLEASE let me work with you, Sam!" Grover pleaded, practically on his knees begging.

"I don't know Grover… this isn't exactly an easy job," Sam explained. "Well, it is for me because I'm Racial Leader, but it requires a certain level of… discipline."

"And Eywa knows you have none of that!"

Kendra had arrived to see how this went. She was cradling Ezio in her arms.

"I do so!" Grover retorted. "I'll prove it! Sam, let me pass through Iknimaya!"

Sam looked at Grover, shocked that he'd even suggest that.

"Grover, are you out of your mind? This isn't like a training exercise. The Iknimaya rite of passage is dangerous to say the least!"

"I'm ready!" Grover insisted. "C'mon, just let me try?"

"Well…" Sam said slowly. "Let's just see if you can approach an ikran without getting maimed."

"No problem!" Grover said, taking off toward the mountain.

"What have I done?" muttered Sam.

Grover approached the flock slowly. Most of the banshees gave him a snarl then flew in the opposite direction. Grover was looking around warily. He noticed one greenish banshee calmly resting under its wing.

"_That looks like my speed_," he thought, approaching the banshee slowly. He was soon at arm's length with it. He slowly extended his arm and went to touch it. Before he even made contact with it, the banshee lifted its head violently and knocked Grover to the ground. Now terror-stricken, Grover teleported hastily. He re-appeared in mid air, falling onto the grass face-first.

"Oh yeah, that was disciplined all right," Kendra said sarcastically.

Panting, Grover stood up slowly. "I'd like to see you do better!" he shouted.

"Easy," said Kendra. She handed Ezio to X and teleported onto the mountain ledge.

Grover leaned over towards X. "Watch your wife get thrashed," he whispered.

"Don't count on it," X replied.

Kendra began approaching the same banshee as Grover. It was now wide-awake and was facing her head-on. It snapped its jaws at her and snarled. It looked as if it was about to strike, when Kendra laid her hand on its beak. Almost instantly, the banshee calmed itself and lowered its head to Kendra. Grover was dumbstruck. Kendra held out her left wrist and took the ikran's neural whip in her other hand. She placed the two together and the tendrils began emerging from her veins. The tendrils of the two queues bonded together at once.

"Let's go!" Kendra shouted. She leapt onto the banshee's back and the two of them took off from the ledge and took to the skies. She began circling the others, laughing merrily. She pointed a finger at Grover with the words "Get him!"

"WHAT!" Grover shrieked, running in the opposite direction. Kendra and her banshee went into a dive-bomb, heading straight towards Grover. Grover was fast, but not nearly fast enough. The banshee's jaws closed around Grover's waist tightly, but not tight enough to snap him in two. With him now firmly in its grasp, the banshee took off into the open sky.

"AAAAHHHH HELP!" Grover screamed in terror. "X, YOUR WIFE'S GONE CRAZY!"

X laughed to himself. "No she hasn't, Grover!"

"AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Grover continued. "LET ME GO!"

Kendra spoke to the banshee in Xilian. Instantly, it released Grover, sending him hurtling towards the ground. At the last minute, however, he teleported in mid-air and landed safely on the ground.

"YOU PSYCHOPATHC BITCH!" he screamed as Kendra and her ikran landed in front of them. The ikran hissed at Grover, causing him to almost fall backwards. Kendra laughed and gently patted her banshee on the beak.

"You know," Sam said to Kendra. "to break an ikran, you don't use the bond."

"So?" Kendra asked him.

"So this ikran is now yours," Sam replied. "For life."

Kendra looked shocked, but broke into a smile when her ikran nuzzled her affectionately.

"Well, now I know what to do! Can I try?" Grover asked Sam.

"Well, to choose an ikran, the ikran must choose you first," Sam explained.

"Huh? How does he choose me?" Grover asked.

"He'll try and eat you," Sam replied.

Grover's confident expression turned to one of fear. He jumped several feet when he heard a hiss behind him. He turned to see a dark blue banshee had landed right behind him, snarling ferociously.

"I think that's yours," said Sam. "Good luck…"

Grover turned to face the banshee. It was approaching him rapidly, roaring loudly. Grover continued to back away slowly.

"Ok… good ikran…."

Without warning, the ikran lunged at him, fangs bared. Grover yelled in terror and teleported without thinking. He soon reappeared.

"_Whew, now I'm safe…"_ he thought. The grass felt strange. It didn't even feel like grass. It felt almost smooth. Like… skin. He looked down to see he was sitting on the back of the banshee.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"

Without warning, the banshee took off into the sky, jerking back and forth to try and get Grover off of its back while Grover clung for dear life.

"This is better than Earth TV," said X.

"No contest," Kendra agreed.

"Grover! Make the bond!" Sam shouted up to him.

"OKAY!" Grover yelled back. He rubbed his hands together, and then held them out in front of him at the banshee's back, pointing all of his fingers down at it, like he was expecting something to come out of them.

"Do you not know how to form the bond?" Sam yelled back up to him.

"…No…" Grover replied.

"Yep, he's dead," said Sam, preparing to head off in another direction.

"Grover! The bond! It's in your wrist!" X shouted to him.

Grover quickly held out his right hand. Kendra covered her face in exasperation.

"YOUR OTHER HAND!" X yelled.

Grover switched hands and saw the tendrils extending from his veins. The ikran was now shaking restlessly, trying to throw Grover off.

"I didn't know I could do that!" Grover exclaimed.

"MAKE THE GODDAMN BOND!" Sam bellowed.

Grover made a grab at the banshee's neural whip and grabbed it firmly. The banshee was now in an all out frenzy, shaking itself wildly trying to free itself from Grover's grasp.

"AUUUGGHHHH! THATS IT!" Grover yelled angrily. "YOU'RE MINE!"

Grover clenched the ikran's neural whip and held it to his. The tendrils connected instantly and, just as instantly, the ikran stopped its frenzy. X, Kendra, and Sam all stood, dumbfounded, as Grover, now an Ikran Makto, soared across the skies, laughing and whooping like a maniac on his banshee. Ezio laughed playfully and clapped his hands.


	23. Put a Smile On

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Put a Smile On**

"WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, HUH?" Grover yelled as soon as he landed.

"Well, you proved me wrong, Grover," said Sam. "Congratulations."

"Have you thought about a name for your new ikran?" X asked him.

"Yeah, I think I'll call him Mirza," Grover replied, petting the banshee's back.

"Mirza, huh? It's got a nice ring to it," X remarked.

Kendra was too shocked for words. Grover had actually completed Iknimaya? It was almost surreal. Ezio, on the other hand, seemed happy as could be with Grover.

"So, Sam, can I start working with you now?" Grover asked anxiously.

"Well…" Sam was contemplating all of the potential consequences of this. "Granted, you did complete Iknimaya, but your little air ballet leaves me a little bit concerned."

Grover hung his head. "That's a no, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Sam replied. "But don't worry, I've been talking to Ozaki and I think we found a simple job that not even you could mess up!"

"Awesome!" Grover exclaimed. "What is it?"

The next day, X, Zan, and Milo visited Grover at his new job.

"Welcome to McDonalds," Grover said grudgingly. "May I take your order?"

Zan and Milo had to use every ounce of restraint that they had to keep from bursting out laughing.


	24. The Old Fashioned Thing

**Chapter Twenty-Three: The Old Fashioned Thing.**

Sam was sitting in his office later that day. He was going through some old files, when he got a glimpse of his desk calendar.

"_Oh no…" _he thought, staring at the date on the calendar; March 12th. _"That day is almost here… And I haven't talked to X about it at all…"_

As if on cue, X knocked on the door and entered Sam's office.

"Hey dad! I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"Ok, but make it fast," Sam said. "There's something I need to talk to you about too."

"Ok…" X knew this couldn't be good. "We were wondering if you could tell us how you did the… 'Old Fashioned Thing'? I meant to ask you after Ezio was born but I never got around to it."

Sam's mind was greatly relieved. Now he didn't have to be in the awkward position of bringing this up himself.

"I'm glad you asked," he replied. "You see, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

At this point, X now wished he'd never said anything.

"Well, once in a while, an Xilian, male or female, is chosen by Eywa to lay eggs in order to bolster the Xilian population. It's natural for us to do this," Sam explained. "Well, I was chosen because I was the future Racial Leader and I was one of the last of our kind. I laid about 7,000 eggs. Although I forgot to tell you something..."

X didn't like where this was going. "…What?"

"Ahhh… you've also been chosen to lay eggs…"

Without warning, X collapsed on the ground in a heap.

"Well… that went well," Sam sighed.

When X came to shortly after, he sprang up in shock.

"IM GOING TO LAY EGGS?"

"Yup," Sam replied. "And at your age, about 5,000 of them."

"WHEN?"

"When your skin starts changing to a scaly texture, you will become pregnant with 5,000 eggs."

"I'M GOING TO BE PREGNANT?"

"Yes!" Sam replied irritatedly. "I just told you that!"

"HOLY SHIT!"

X and Sam could hear the others laughing outside.

"SHUT UP!" X yelled, pointing his finger at the door. As he did, he began to notice greenish scales forming on his hand.

"... Daaaaaaaaaaaad?"

"Hehe…" Sam laughed nervously. "Congratulations X, you're pregnant with 5,000 children."

X passed out yet again.


	25. On His Own

**Chapter Twenty-Four: On his Own**

X could barely process this information. He was giving birth to 5,000 eggs in a few months. He'd seen Kendra, Miyuki, and numerous other Xilians give birth, but to no more than 3 children at a time. And he had to birth 5,000 of them. The idea was not a pleasant one. Zan and Grover, however, got a good laugh out of it. Even Mirza seemed to be laughing at X at some points. Milo, being more sensible, saw the potential danger of it and tried to help X all he could, as did Kendra. The others tried to cheer him up by taking him to McDonalds and endlessly torturing Grover at work by complaining about trivial things regarding their meals. While seeing Grover blow up was funny, X couldn't shake this idea of pregnancy. A few days passed and the signs of pregnancy already began to show in X.

"Uggghhhh…" X groaned, as he had on a daily basis. "My stomach hurts…"

Grover smirked at him. The expected punch in the arm came shortly after.

Something occurred to X shortly after. "Hey dad?" he asked. "How will I lay the eggs? I mean, I have… 'male parts'."

"Oh… right," Sam said nervously. "I forgot to mention that. You're going to… ummm…."

He leaned in next to X and whispered something in his ear. As soon as he was done talking, X's reaction was fast and explosive.

"THATS DISGUSTING!" he bellowed in shock. "NO WAY! FUCK THAT! I'M NOT DOING THIS! I'M GETTING AN ABORTION!"

"OH, NO YOU WON'T!" Kendra yelled back. "YOU'RE GONNA LAY THOSE EGGS!"

"WHY?" X yelled back. This was a surprise. He'd never yelled at Kendra since their marriage. "I NEVER WANTED THIS! MY LIFE SUCKS!"

"Suck it up, X," Sam replied. "If I could do it, so can you."

As the months passed, however, this became less and less likely. This was nothing like what X had trained in. Fighting off enemies was one thing, but carrying 5,000 children was not something X had ever intending on doing. After 2 months, the wait seemed to be just about over.

"My stomach feels heavier," said X. Naturally, he was Xilian so there was little to no change in his physical appearance. Internally, however, it was apparent to X that something was growing inside of him. And it was nearing completion.

"The eggs must be growing," Kendra remarked.

"When you give birth to the eggs, they grow to the size of an ostrich egg," Sam explained. "But only one at a time."

This didn't sound like something that was going to be easy to endure.

"…You guys will be there, right?" X asked them.

"No… I'm sorry X, but this is something you must do by yourself."

"WHAT!" X yelled angrily. He had to endure this entire ordeal alone? "THIS IS NOT FAIR!"

"I wish it could be fair," Sam replied. He led X into another room. "This is where you will give birth. The room will be halfway filled with water, as the eggs must be immersed in water to survive. You'll have to revert to your true form in order to deliver them underwater."

"…I really have to do this alone…" X muttered.

"I'm sorry X…"


	26. The Nightmare Begins

**Chapter Twenty-Five: The Nightmare Begins.**

X was lying on his bed a few days later. Many thoughts were going through his head about how this was going to end up for him. Before he could dwell on any individual one of them, he felt something… unusual.

"Dad!" he yelled down to Sam. "Either I just peed my pants or…"

Sam looked up from his work. "…Or?"

"I'M GIVING BIRTH!" X yelled down to him.

Frantically, Sam and Kendra rushed X into the laying room, now full of water.

"Oh my Eywa, this hurts!" X groaned, doubled over in pain.

"Easy, easy, get in the water," Kendra told him.

X paused. "…Naked?"

"No, in your suit," Sam replied. "YES naked. Or you can keep your shirt on."

X decided that option would make this a little less painful. He left his shirt on and dove into the water. Before going into the water, he looked at Sam and Kendra one last time. Kendra blew him a kiss, which he pretended to catch in his hand before diving under.

"Good luck son…" Sam muttered to himself.

X swam to the bottom of the pool at sat down on the floor. He closed his eyes and he reverted back to his fish-like form. His human-looking skin melted away and the grey, slimy flesh re-appeared. X had never liked the way he looked in this form. He preferred his more attractive human face. As he sat in the water, he just waited for something to happen, as he had no idea how to lay eggs.

"Why does he have to be alone?" Kendra asked Sam.

"It's tradition," Sam replied. "He'll be alright."

Tears began to fall from Kendra's eyes.

"He was there for me when i gave birth to Ezio…" she said through her tears. "And I'm not there for him, when he gives birth to 5,000 eggs. Not even to hold his hand…"

Without warning, Kendra burst out crying. Sam held her close as she cried into him.

"He'll be alright," he reassured her. "I promise."

X closed his eyes tightly, secretly glad that the water was muffling his yells of pain.

"AAUUGGHH! I TAKE EVERYTHNG BACK ABOUT THE HAND PAIN!" he screamed underwater.

His yells continued until he heard something touch down in the water. Rising past him toward the surface next to him was a greenish-brown, slimy looking egg.

"I LAYED AN EGG!" X shouted joyously. "I DID IT!"

However, the pain had yet to go away. "Ughh… 4,999 to go…" X groaned. "Kendra… I wish you were here…"

The next morning, things were not going any better.

"Is he done? Kendra asked Sam.

"I don't know," he replied. "Let's find out."

The two of them entered the laying room. To their surprise, they saw thousands of eggs floating on the surface, and they were still coming.

"ALL NIGHT?" Kendra yelled in shock. "HE'S BEEN LYING EGGS ALL NIGHT!"

"Don't worry," Sam told her. "During the birth, he'll stop for two or three hours. Like a break."

"When?"

X rose above the surface, breathing heavily with heavy rings around his eyes.

"I... CANT...DO THIS... ANYMORE!"

He swam over to Kendra, who hugged him. "I take back everything!" he told her. "Everything!"

"The pain has ceased for now," Sam remarked. "But only for a couple of hours."

X stepped out of the water, now in his human form. "This is hard. But I won't stop. I'm going to keep going."


	27. A Miraculous Nightmare

**Chapter Twenty-Six: A Miraculous Nightmare.**

Suffice to say, the following hours were no better than the previous ones.

"AAAGGGH DAMN IT! OWWW! SHIT!"

Yet more eggs continued to rise from the bottom of the pool.

"HOW DOES KENDRA DO THIS?" X yelled from beneath the surface. "I'M NOT DOING THIS AGAIN!"

Kendra and Sam stood at the top of the surface, looking down, seeing eggs rise from the bottom.

"Why can't I just be with him?" Kendra asked angrily. "Please! He's my husband! And he's giving birth! Five thousand times!"

Sam saw the anxiety in her eyes and heard the panic in her voice. He sighed deeply.

"…I guess it wouldn't hurt anyone. Go ahead."

Fully clothed, Kendra dove into the pool. She swam down to X, who was curled in a fetal position, screaming underwater.

"X!" she called out. "YOU ALRIGHT?"

X yelled loudly, air bubbles flying from his mouth.

"I take that as a no," Kendra replied. She took X's hand and held it tightly.

"I'm here…"

X smiled faintly at her, before doubling over with pain again.

"AUGH! HERE COMES ANOTHER!"

"Breathe!" Kendra said, holding X's hand. "Take deep breaths!"

"AUUGGGHHH! HOLY SHIT!"

Another egg rose to the surface.

"Well, that's one less egg to birth," Kendra smiled.

Kendra remained with X for the entire time. Her presence seemed to make everything better for him. He no longer yelled about how much he hated the situation. As the remaining hours of the day passed, so did the eggs. One by one, they all rose to the surface.


	28. Chester

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Chester**

It was almost midnight by the time X began to no longer feel the pain.

"Ok…" he panted. "I think that's all of them."

"Wow," Sam commented from above. "5,014 eggs. Impressive that he could even manage 1,000."

X and Kendra began to swim back up to the surface, when an entirely different wave of pain rushed over X.

"OWWW OK! I'M NOT DONE YET!" he yelled.

Kendra rushed X back to the bottom and he curled back up.

"Ugh… this feels different…" X groaned.

"Come on, we'll get out and over with," Kendra said, holding X's hand tightly.

X began again, but something was different this time. This didn't feel like just another egg. It felt… different.

"AUUGHH, THIS IS A BIG EGG!"

This was not an egg, he could tell. It was far too big and it felt almost like it was… moving.

"You're doing great," Kendra said to him. "Push X, push harder!"

Sam could vaguely hear X from the surface. He could tell something was wrong, but he had to remain where he was. X was doubled over in agony, his screams causing ripples in the water. Even Kendra was afraid for him.

"Your almost there!" she cried out. "Keep pushing, PUSH X PUSH!"

X let out a scream that even rivaled his screams of frustration from their invasion of Earth. Within minutes, the deed was done. Kendra observed the egg, but an expression of shock appeared on her face. She gasped.

"Whew…" said X. "That was one big egg…"

"It… wasn't an egg…" Kendra said in a shaky voice.

X slowly turned his head to look at her. In her arms, she held a squirming baby Xilian.

X was speechless. He struggled for about a minute for the right words.

"A baby? I HAD A BABY?"

"…It's a boy," was all Kendra could say.

"But… how… I don't…" X stammered.

"Come on, we need to show the others," said Kendra.

With the baby in her arms, Kendra swam X back to the surface. Sam and Grover were present on the surface, Grover armed with a new camera.

"X HAD A BABY BOY XILIAN!" Kendra announced to them.

This time, Grover couldn't restrain himself. He burst out laughing hysterically. X gave him the death stare and he gradually stopped. He and Kendra got out of the water and X turned back into his human form. Sam was speechless. In all of his days, nothing like this had ever happened.

"I… X… that's… wonderful! It's a miracle!" Sam exclaimed, more excited than he'd ever been.

"Ok, I am TIRED of all of this miracle shit!' X yelled. "I JUST GAVE BIRTH TO A BABY! IT'S NOT A MIRACLE! IT'S WEIRD!"

"But X, no one could have done this," Sam went on. "I mean, I don't know how!"

Grover laughed. "OH, I think Ozaki, Miyuki, Zan, and Milo, and maybe the whole entire Xilian population would like to know!"

X charged at Grover and grabbed him by the shirt. "IF YOU TELL ANYONE, I'LL HAUNT YOU UNTIL YOU DIE!" X yelled, staring Grover right in the eyes. He backed down quickly.

Kendra handed X the baby. Sam could tell it looked exactly like X when he was a baby. Completely the same.

"…I'll name him… Chester," X declared.

Sam and Kendra, who had tears of joy in her eyes, smiled. Grover smirked slightly, only to be kicked into the water by Kendra. He rose to the surface, floundering like a drowning animal.

"EEEEEEWWWWWW THIS HAS X'S GERMS IN IT!" he yelled. "IT CAME FROM PLACES I SHOULD NEVER GET GERMS FROM!"


	29. Wolf

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Wolf**

"Listen, X," Sam said. "I can understand you not wanting to tell Ozaki, but he's your brother. He'll find out sometime."

"I know," X muttered. "It's just… a touchy subject."

He felt Grover wiping off his soaking wet sleeves on his back. He whirled around quickly.

"STOP IT!"

"We could tell them I gave birth to him," Kendra suggested.

"No, they wouldn't work. You were never pregnant."

"Well, they'd never guess the truth!" Grover laughed.

"Shut up."

"How about I tell them that it was an egg that hatched early?" Sam suggested. "Then it'll seem less unusual."

"Ok, fine," X replied.

"Great," said Sam. "Now I've got 5,014 eggs to teleport to Planet X."

"Wait!" Grover said. "I just wanna take a few pictures of them. Then look at them when I'm feeling down and laugh to think those all came out of X."

"I hate you…" snarled X.

Once Grover was done with his photo shoot, he climbed to the roof. With a running start, he dove off of the building in a swan dive. In mid-air, he whistled loudly. Instantly, Mirza soared down and Grover landed on his back.

"Good boy! Now let's get home," Grover said to his banshee, connecting their neural queues. "I've got stuff on the computer to do."

Clouds had begun to roll in, darkening the sky. Grover and Mirza heard thundering in the distance. Mirza began to whimper slightly, clearly afraid.

"It's ok, boy. We'll be home soon."

Out of nowhere, torrents of rain began falling from the sky. Now Mirza wasn't used to flying in the rain.

"Not much further, Mirza. Hang in there," Grover told him.

He looked down at a rooftop and saw a dark figure standing on it. He couldn't tell at first what it was, but did notice a jet of blue light come flying at him. Mirza screeched and tried to dodge it. Grover was too panicked to relay directions to Mirza through their neural link. A second blue bolt came at them. It clipped Mirza's wing and he shrieked in pain. Mirza's cry drove Grover into a panic. Through their link, they both shared an equal amount of terror. Unable to think clearly, Grover and Mirza began hurtling toward the ground. Grover managed enough clear though to have Mirza crash land on the rooftop that the shadowy figure had been on. But they'd seemingly vanished now. Mirza skidded across the rooftop, coming to a stop on the opposite side of it.

"Mirza! You ok?" Grover asked frantically.

Mirza managed a faint grunt of affirmation. Grover looked at the opposite edge of the building where the shadowy figure had been. They were gone. He blinked and began to see something begin to materialize in front of him. It looked almost transparent. Then he came to the horrible conclusion. It was cloaked. The cloaking shield lowered and Grover found himself faced with something out of a nightmare. It was humanoid in appearance, but much bulkier than a human and its skin was clammy and scaly. It was heavily armored in armor that Grover had only seen in books. It wore a dark helmet, skull shaped in appearance. Hair-like appendages hung from the back of its head. Its helmet had two dark visors that resembled eyes. The creature looked down at Grover, emitting ominous clicking sounds. Grover was paralyzed with fear. Mirza was too weak to try and intimidate. The creature held out its wrist and a pair of blades extended from it. It pointed the blades at Grover. It pulled back its wrist and prepared to strike him.

Before the humanoid alien could impale Grover, a blast of blue energy struck it in the chest. It stumbled back, its armor protecting it. From behind Grover and Mirza, a second alien resembling Grover's assailant jumped out and tackled the assailant. Its helmet was grey and its armor looked more traditional. The two of them got up to face each other. They both extended blades from their wrists and began dueling with them. Sparks flew each time the blades connected. Grover's savior was faster but the assailant was stronger. The assailant roared ferociously and a small energy projector extracted from its shoulder. It began shooting bolts of blue energy at the savior. The savior began running across the rooftop as the assailant fired continuously at him. The savior drew from his arsenal a whip. He cracked the whip and lashed it at the assailant. It snagged the assailant by the leg and tripped him up. While it was down, the savior was upon him. He extended his wrist blades and impaled the assailant through the neck, spilling green blood. It let out a roar of anguish before, finally, going limp.

Less than a second after, a third alien burst from the shade at the savior. The savior drew a spear, which he extended with a flick of his wrist. The third alien attacked him viciously with its wrist blades, slicing and dicing at him rapidly. The savior's spear, however, was capable of blocking it. The savior, using expert precision, was able to maneuver his spear around the ferocious wrist blades. He struck the alien in the side then sweep kicked it, knocking it to its knees. Before the alien could get back up to fight, the savior swiftly yanked off his helmet, revealing his face. Grover was not surprised. He knew from the start what he was dealing with. The savior's eyes were dark black and arthropod-like mandibles protruded from his face. He roared at the alien, but it didn't sound like he was trying to intimidate him. Instead, it sounded like they were communicating. Once his roars ceased, the savior released the alien and put away his spear. The alien seemed to understand the savior completely, as he proceeded to walk away calmly before cloaking, vanishing entirely.

Grover stood up slowly as the savior, now donning his helmet once again, turned to face him.

"It's been a while since you've had to take on that form, Sam," Grover commented.

The savior stared at Grover for a second, before his helmet began to automatically peel back, seemingly retracting into the savior's back along with the rest of his armor and skin. When it had all gone, Sam Sendjin stood in its place.

"Well, thankfully there hasn't been a lot of call for it," Sam reminded Grover. "But I'm worried that there now is."

"You look a lot more threatening as a Predator, Sam," Grover interjected. "Why not stay like that all the time instead of as an aged human?"

"The proper name is Yautja, Grover," Sam corrected him. "And I only take it when I have to. It is an uncommon ability granted by Eywa that is not to be misused."

"Blah, blah, blah I get it," Grover said dully. "Anyway, thanks for the help. Any idea what those Pred-… Yautja guys were doing here?"

"Yes," Sam replied, before tossing Grover a Xilian salve and teleporting out of sight.

Grover paused, with a face that said, "Wait a second…" Ignoring it as he always did, Grover proceeded to apply the fast-acting salve to Mirza's wing.


	30. Grover's Big Mistake

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Grover's Big Mistake**

The next day, Sam got up early to finish transporting the eggs to Planet X. There were still at least 1,000 left when he got up. It was mid-afternoon when he finished transporting them all.

"There," he said when he was finally done. "Safe and sound in the hatchery."

He turned to X. "I also told Ozaki and Miyuki about Chester. And how you laid the eggs."

"Thanks, dad," said X, still recovering from the previous day.

Chester, who was still adjusting to his new human form, squirmed in his crib, making whimpering lizard-like sounds. X went to comfort him, when he heard faint yelling from down the hall, as well as doors slamming. The door swung open and Kendra came storming in, dragging Grover by his wrist. Grover looked like he'd just committed a murder.

"PLEASE, DON'T HURT ME!" Grover yelled, clearly terrified.

"I WON'T! BUT X WILL!" Kendra screamed back. She looked like she wanted to twist Grover into a knot. She dragged Grover by his wrist up to X.

"What did he do now?" X asked. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"HE POSTED THE PICTURES OF YOUR EGGS ON TWITTER!" Kendra yelled. "ENTITLED 'X'S EGGS', HASHTAG LOL! AND ALREADY 250 HUMANS AND XILIANS AND COUNTING COMMENTED!"

X's jaw dropped to the floor. His face began twisting and contorting with rage as his eyes darkened.

"I'LL DELETE THEM, I SWEAR!" Grover pleaded with X.

X grabbed Grover by the coat and held him up over his head.

"IT'S TOO LATE TO DELETE THEM, IDIOT! PEOPLE WILL HAVE RETWEETED THEM BY NOW!"

"…Oh," was the only word Grover could manage.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" X bellowed, pulling a gun from out of a drawer. Grover threw off his coat and ran as fast as he could down the hallway.

"SOME DAD YOU'RE GOING TO BE!"

Everyone thought the gun was just to intimidate Grover. But X wasn't lowering it as Grover ran for the door. With an unrelenting, fiery rage burning in his eyes, X pulled the trigger.

A red laser bolt burst from the gun, making its way rapidly towards Grover. He was fast, but the gun was faster. The bolt plowed through Grover's skull and he dropped instantly to the floor in a heap. He wasn't moving. X lowered the smoking gun, disregarding the utter shock and disbelief on everybody's faces.


	31. X's Big Mistake

**Chapter Thirty: X's Big Mistake**

"You… you actually…" Kendra couldn't find the right words.

X didn't respond. Chester had been woken up by the gunfire and was starting to squirm and cry. Sam, still shocked, approached Grover's body. To his surprise, he found no blood on the scene. But Grover's head was still twitching. Sparks were flying from his head wound. Sam inspected the wound closer and found no brain matter, but all manner of electrical equipment, much of it now fried.

"It wasn't him," Sam said, breathing a sigh of relief. "It was an android."

X growled and ran up to kick the android's body.

"You… killed Grover!" Kendra said, her voice shaking.

"Kendra, it wasn't the real him," X replied. "He's damn lucky too."

"YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT!" Kendra screamed back. "YOU HAD NO PROBLEM SHOOTING GROVER! I THOUGHT YOU'D CHANGED SINCE 2561!"

This surprised everyone. Their attack on Earth in 2561 was something that they'd all agreed to never to mention again, X most of all. Kendra picked up a sobbing Chester and made for the door.

"I'm taking the kids and staying with Miyuki!"

X was dumbstruck. "For how long?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Kendra screamed back, tears flowing down her cheeks as she slammed the door.

X couldn't speak. A mixture of guilt and shock was evident in his expression. Sam was just as surprised. He hadn't expected any of this. Sam knew X needed some time alone. He slowly walked out of the room, leaving X sitting in the dark in grief with the Grover android twitching and sparking nearby.


	32. Regret

**Chapter Thirty-One: Regret.**

The following day, Kendra was at the Ozakis' house, crying her eyes out with Miyuki beside her. Ezio and Chester were bonding with Emma and Sam in a playroom. They seemed to get along well, despite Ezio's frequent desire for whatever Sam had in his hands and Emma's tendency to poke Chester while he was sleeping. Ana was supervising her nephews and niece while Ozaki and Gordon watched a news program, where a reporter was talking about a supposed attack on the Visitors' mothership by unidentified assailants wearing masks and with alien weaponry. X, in the meantime, was sitting with Zan and Milo at their apartment, who were trying to cheer him up. However, their lack of knowledge regarding emotions wasn't helping their contributions.

"I messed up and I don't know what to do…" X said to himself. Zan and Milo were there but they didn't have much to say in this scenario.

"Well…" Milo spoke finally. "You could go and… fix it?"

"You've suggested that five times, Milo," Zan said irritatedly.

"Well don't look at me, I studied engineering, not psychology," Milo replied.

"As much as I appreciate your help, guys, I think I'd better sort this out by myself," X told them.

Zan and Milo got the hint and got up to leave.

Later that day, Kendra had finished pouring her heart out to Miyuki about how she'd thought X had changed and that she couldn't believe him. It was around this time that they received a knock at their door. Ozaki went to answer it and found Grover standing in the doorway with a nervous expression.

"Is… Kendra still here?" he asked.

"Yeah, she's here," said an irritated Ozaki, leaning an arm on the doorway so as to prevent Grover from entering. "From what I hear, you're lucky to be alive."

"Yeah…" Grover muttered. "It's a good thing I created that dupe of me."

"Yeah, but from what I heard, it sounded like you deserved it."

"Oh come on Ozaki, be a sport! I was just trying to…"

"Be funny? Taking pictures of him while he's laying eggs is funny?"

"Hehe well... you weren't there. If you were I'm sure you'd have had a good laugh..."

"Well, just finish whatever you've got to do here and shove off."

"That, I will do."

Grover brushed past Ozaki, stumbling a bit, and approached Kendra, who was sitting at the counter, leaning her head face first on her arms. It took a few seconds before Grover managed to speak.

"…H-hey Kendra…"

Kendra looked up, her makeup running down her face.

"Grover... this... this is all..."

"My fault? I know... I'm so sorry. I've been such an ass lately. I don't know what provoked me to do that to X."

Kendra was puzzled. Grover admitting his mistakes AGAIN? What happened to the Grover she'd known?

"You ok Grover? I don't ever remember you ever being... regretful..."

"Well, I know I crossed a line. I deleted my Twitter, so I hope we can let bygones be bygones."

"Well… ok," Kendra replied, actually pleasantly surprised. "But X, he was going to shoot you! I couldn't believe it. I thought he had changed!"

"Well to be honest, the reason I messed with X so much is because... I wanted to show you that he could never change," Grover explained. "I didn't want you getting involved with someone like him. I did it for your own good."

"Really?" Well... thanks Grover that means a lot…"

X sat in the apartment, flipping channels absentmindedly. Sam entered the room.

"You know, instead of watching Earth TV, you could be reconciling with your wife."

"I would if I had the slightest idea what to do," X replied, changing the channel again.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Ozaki called, by the way. He says Grover is at their house talking to Kendra. And Ozaki says he seems to have walking issues at the moment."

X's turned to look at Sam. They made eye contact and there was a brief pause. Finally, X spoke.

"…WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING HERE?"

He leapt off the couch and grabbed Sam by the shoulder as the two of them teleported.

"You and I both know that X will always be coldhearted and cruel," Grover went on. "But if you ever need anything, I'm always here."

"T-thanks Grover," Kendra replied, wiping away her tears and smiling slightly. "You're a real friend."

The two of them embraced tightly. What Kendra didn't see, however, was something come out from Grover's sleeve and into his hand. It looked like a small beacon of some kind. Without Kendra seeing, he reached to place it on her neck.


	33. Milady

**Chapter Thirty-Two: Anna**

Before Grover could inject the syringe into Kendra's neck, a sudden burst of light filled the room. Grover and Kendra broke their embrace and saw two figures standing in the light. A voice shouted out.

"BACK OFF, GROVER!"

A bolt from a Xilian laser gun hit Grover in the leg. Sparks flew from his injured leg and he fell onto one knee. A second bolt struck him directly in the head, the force of it blowing his entire head off. Kendra let out a shriek of surprise as fried wires burst from Grover's neck. His head rolled across the ground, sparks still flying from the severed neck of it.

"Damn, another dupe," muttered Sam. "I suspected as much."

X ran to Kendra's side. She was still shaking from the sudden shock. "Are you alright?"

Kendra shoved X away angrily. "YOU JUST TRIED TO KILL GROVER! AGAIN!"

"Relax, Kendra," X replied. "I shot him in the leg first to make sure he was a robot."

Kendra turned her head the other way. "Robot or not, he at least treated me better than you do!"

"Don't count on it," Sam interjected. He held up the syringe dart that Grover had been holding. "It's some kind of tranquilizer."

"W-what was he going to do with that?"

"I don't know, but when Ozaki called us, I could tell from the way he described Grover's walking that it couldn't have been good."

Kendra now turned her attentions to X. "You... came back for me."

"Of course I did," X replied. "I love you."

Kendra's shaking died down and she threw her arms around X, crying tears of joy.

"I love you too…" she said back, kissing X on the lips.

"I'll always be here for you," X smiled. "And for the kids."

As they embraced lovingly, Sam stood over the fried Grover robot curiously.

"...What were you trying to do Grover...?"

In the dark interior of a room, a lone individual in a leather trench coat stood. Close behind him, a large bird-like creature was cowering from what they both stood before. They were in a large chamber on a platform hovering over a metal abyss of flashing buttons and wiring. The man and the creature stood on a long, bridge leading up to the center, circular platform, where another person stood, their back facing the bridge. The chamber was dimly lit, so the person in the center could not be fully seen. The man in the trench coat lowered himself onto one knee, not making eye contact with the center person. This person spoke, without turning around.

"Well? Were you successful?"

The trench coat man responded, his voice shaky.

"No, milady. My attempts to get her onto our side didn't work."

"Well, we'll have to try harder next time," the center person replied. "Won't we, Grover?"

Grover stood, his trench coat dropping back down to leg-length.

"Yes, milady," he responded.

"Don't forget the terms under which you serve me that we made in that alley that night. If you want them to remain as they are, you'd better start having better results."

"I won't forget, milady. Never."

"Good," the commander replied.

The bird-like creature whimpered slightly, backing away from Grover and the center. The center person nodded their head toward it.

"I see your pet is having issues."

"Mirza is just afraid, milady," Grover explained, rubbing the ikran's back.

"Well, fear is not something that we need right now," the commander replied. "With the Yautja crawling everywhere we must be prepared for another attack. Those Xenomorphs haven't been much help so far."

"Of course, milady," Grover responded. "We will be on high alert."

There was no response at first. "…I hope you're not having any second thoughts, Grover," the commander said finally.

"Of course not," Grover replied readily. "I serve only you now." He was sweating slightly from his brow, though.

"That's what I thought," the commander replied. "You may go."

"Thank you m-milady…" Grover responded, quickly turning to go with Mirza close behind. He was sweating profusely now.

"Oh, and Grover?"

Grover stopped abruptly and turned around quickly. "Yes, milady?"

The center person stepped out from the shadows, revealing her face. She had slightly tanned skin, short black hair, and her eyes were yellow and almost reptilian in appearance. Grover cowered in fear when she looked upon him with those feral eyes. He understood why her people served her so obediently. As queen of the Visitors, she had to keep up a feeling of fear in her underlings. She stared at Grover with a grave expression.

"Try to stay out of trouble while the assassination is in progress."

"Yes... of course... Anna... my queen…"


	34. Father and Son

**Chapter Thirty-Three: Father and Son.**

It was late at night. Sam was sitting at his desk, observing the tranquilizer that the Grover robot had attempted to use on Kendra. He'd run several chemical tests on it, and every time, the results showed no traces of any tranquilizer he'd ever seen. This was Visitor technology, he could tell. Sam turned on a microphone to record his findings.

"My findings have concluded that this is no ordinary tranquilizer. This wasn't meant to put Kendra to sleep..."

Before he could finish, he heard a knock on the door. With a wave of his hand, he unlocked the door. It opened and Ozaki stood in the doorway.

"Make this quick," he said. "I don't have much time."

"Well, frankly son, this is not going to be quick," Sam replied.

Ozaki cringed like Sam had said a bad word. "Don't call me that."

"See? This is what this is about. I want you to explain yourself to me."

Ozaki made for the door, but Sam snapped his fingers and it slammed and locked in his face. Ozaki turned around irritated.

"Ok, fine. …Sam," he said. "Imagine this. You have no memory of your birth and you're forced to live in a mutant orphanage where the other kids think you're some kind of space freak. You have no idea who you really are or who your parents are. Or if they even ever loved you. Then, your biological father and the twin brother that you never even knew you had show up and try to take over the planet you've lived on all your life. Then, years later, they come back and expect you to immediately forgive them."

Sam paused, not saying a word. He was at a loss for words.

"Exactly," Ozaki replied. "Can you see yourself ever forgiving them? Or even wanting to look them in the eye? The father who abandoned me as a child expects me to forgive him just like that. At least X made some effort."

"Ozaki, I didn't abandon you," Sam finally spoke. "Your mother and I believed that you'd be happier and better off here with your own kind. You were dominantly human, after all."

"Oh thanks, I really appreciate it. I'd have much rather been here where I was only seen as an expendable soldier than back home with my parents and brother. Then again, I was never loved by my father so who gives a shit?"

Sam couldn't bear to hear those words. "Ozaki, you and your brother were everything to me. After your mother died in childbirth, you two were all I had left to hold on to. Letting you go was one of the most painful things I've ever had to do. I thought about you and how you were doing every day."

"BUT YOU DID IT ANYWAY! AND X GOT TO LIVE COMFORTABLY WITH YOU! OBVIOUSLY YOU WEREN'T A GOOD FATHER IF HE TURNED OUT HOW HE DID BEFORE NOW! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE NOT TO KNOW IF YOUR FATHER LOVES YOU!"

Sam's expression darkened slightly. "Yes, I do," he replied. Ozaki's expression changed to one of confusion. "My father, Lucas Lee Sendjin. I was born during a time of war and he didn't have time to oversee how I was raised. He left me in the care of his friend while he went along with his warmongering. I never even knew that he was my father. I never even spoke to him because I ran away. Then, while I was gone, our planet was ravaged. I never even found out if he was alive."

Ozaki wasn't ranting anymore. He was still trying to stop breathing so hard, but he didn't look as furious as before.

"It wasn't because of me that X turned out how he did," Sam went on. "There were other… factors. And you would've been subject to those factors in the same way that X was if you'd been with us. You'd have turned out the same way that he did. On Earth, nobody knew to look for you. You were safe there."

"Safe, but alone," Ozaki replied, the anger returning in his eyes. "You loved X just that much more that you kept him and not me. It makes me sick that I have to address my own son by your name. As far as I'm concerned, you abandoned me on Earth, you never loved me, and you can drop dead for all I care. I don-"

Before Ozaki could finish his sentence, a massive explosion burst through the apartment wall. Sam and Ozaki were hurled across the room as rubble rained down on them. When the smoke cleared, three men were rising up into the apartment on jetpacks. One of them, Sam recognized vaguely as Marcus, Anna's second-in-command. The other two were Visitor elite soldiers. He could tell from their eyes. All three of them brandished guns and stepped into the wrecked room.

"We've found you," Marcus said. "At last…"


	35. Assassins

**Chapter Thirty-Four: Assassins.**

Sam rose to his feet, brushing off rubble. He looked and saw Ozaki unconscious, buried in rubble. He turned back to Marcus with a calm expression.

"Good evening, gentlemen. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You can drop the act, Sam," Marcus replied bitterly. "We know what you did."

"Well," said Sam, his hand traveling slowly to his hidden holster. "I'm sure I haven't the slightest idea what you mean."

"You summoned your old friends, the Yautja, here," Marcus said, pointing his finger defiantly at Sam. "You knew they'd hinder our progress. And you did it because you're jealous. Jealous that we're accomplishing what you tried to do all those years ago. You're just an old fool Sam."

"Perhaps," Sam replied, his eyes quickly darting to Ozaki and back to Marcus. "But you're the fools who blackmailed the fool of my crew so foolishly."

"Yes indeed," Marcus replied. "A real fool, that one. He can't even pull off a single successful abduction on a totally unaware target without needing dupes. It's amusing though. When we approached him initially, his one condition regarding serving our queen made me sick. But that's not important. We're going to kill you, Sam. Then we're going to take over this entire planet quicker and more efficiently than you ever could."

"Well, I'm afraid I must disappoint you," Sam replied, his hand now gripping his gun. "Because you're greatly mistaken if you think that I'm going to… go quietly."

Sam whirled around like lightning, gun unholstered. He fired off two rounds and nailed Marcus' two guards in the head. They dropped beside him. Marcus was just as quick, however. He evaded the third shot meant for him and fired rapidly at Sam. With the agility of a viperwolf, Sam shifted to dodge every shot. Thinking fast, he teleported in a flash of light and reappeared directly behind Marcus, holding him at point blank range. Marcus, though taken off guard, was quick to react. He swung his free arm around, knocking Sam's gun out of his hand with his elbow. Unarmed, but not defenseless, Sam grabbed Marcus' gun with his other hand and crushed it. Marcus wasn't completely defenseless either. He quickly drew a knife from his jacket pocket and held it to Sam's throat. A sinister smile appears on his face.

"Ready to die, Xilian scum?" he asked Sam.

Before Sam could respond, Ozaki grabbed Marcus by the shoulders and hurled him to the other side of the room.

"I don't know? Are you?" he asked him.

Ozaki rushed Marcus, who was still picking himself off the ground. He swung a fist at Marcus, who caught it before he could hit him. Ozaki swung his other fist, which Marcus also caught. His arms now in a cross, Ozaki swung his arms outward, making Marcus' chest open. Ozaki jumped up, Marcus still holding onto his fists, and planted one of his feet on Marcus' chest. With great force, he pushed himself off of Marcus' chest using his foot. Marcus' back hit the wall and Ozaki made another rush with his foot. He swung his right leg at Marcus' head. Marcus countered quickly, blocking it with his arm. Ozaki made numerous assault attempts at Marcus at different angles, who blocked each move skillfully. Finally, Ozaki was able to catch Marcus off guard by faking him out. He swung both fists at Marcus from different angles. Marcus went to block them, giving Ozaki the opportunity to deliver a powerful kick to Marcus' face. Marcus fell back against the wall, losing his balance and falling. Before Ozaki could make another move, Marcus sweep-kicked him. Ozaki's balance shattered and he fell to the ground. He was about to rise back up quickly, but found a gun pointed at his head. Marcus cocked the gun and pressed it against Ozaki's forehead.

"My orders were to kill Sam, but I don't see why I should waste the opportunity to rid the universe of another piece of Xilian trash."

"NO!"

Marcus and Ozaki both turned their heads and saw Sam, his hand raised.

"Don't… kill the boy. I'll comply, but let him live."

Marcus laughed slightly, something Visitors almost never did.

"A regard for life. So pathetic," he said. "Your idiotic friend Grover has it too. It's quite an easy thing to exploit, as you can see. When we threatened your friends' lives, he was quick to comply with us. I should thank you both for making this so much easier for us."

Ozaki was staring at Sam with shock. The father who abandoned him was now giving his life for him? Ozaki was awestruck, now feeling like the world's biggest ass.

"Well…" he began, not wanting to admit that he was wrong out loud. " …You only have one gun! Where's the gun for Sam?"

"Right here."

A third, unknown individual was hovering outside the massive hole in the wall. They stepped into the room calmly. The sound of high heels was evident as they walked into the room. When they stepped into the small amount of light still flickering in the room, Ozaki was looking into the face of Anna, the queen of the Visitors.

"Well, fancy seeing you here in person," said Sam.

"Yes… fancy that," Anna snarled said, a great deal of spite in her voice. "You know why we're here, I presume?"

"That I do," Sam replied. "And I presume you're going to stick to the terms you agreed to with Grover?"

"Of… course," Anna replied. "And you're not going to fight back?"

"Why should I?" Sam asked her. "I'm going to die sooner or later."

"Well," Anna began, cocking the gun against Sam's head. "Now sooner."

Ozaki wanted desperately to get up and take down both Marcus and Anna. When he looked at Sam, Sam waved his hand at Ozaki without Anna seeing, as if to say "Stand down." Ozaki had to use every bit of willpower he had to comply. Sam looked at him and managed a weak smile. Ozaki, now shaking with rage and fear, managed to mouth the words "…I'm sorry…"

"You know what they say about revenge," Anna said. "It's a bitch, Sam."

Anna's finger closed around the trigger and she fired.

The bullet burst from the chamber and went straight through Sam's head. Blood burst from the hole in his head and his body fell to the ground, lifeless.


	36. the Devastation

**Chapter Thirty-Five: the Devastation.**

Ozaki felt like he was in some kind of nightmare. His father's limp body fell to the ground 10 feet from him. Instantly, the urge to fight was gone. The need to get up and fight to the death had vanished. Ozaki collapsed on the ground on all fours like a beast. He was gasping for air, his breath cut short by this sudden blow. Ozaki's head was spiraling. His vision was cloudy and his breath was fading fast. Anna stood over Ozaki, looking at him with disgust. Her high heel connected with the side of Ozaki's head. He fell to the side, his vision fading faster and faster. As Marcus headed for the exit, Anna leaned down near Ozaki's ear and whispered,

"…See you soon…"

With that, everything faded to black and Ozaki passed out.

The door slammed open minutes later, X and Kendra standing in the doorway.

"DAD! I GOT YOUR S.O.S.! WHAT'S HAP-"

X stopped abruptly when he caught sight of the room. A massive hole was evident in the apartment wall. Ozaki was unconscious and Sam…

X saw his father's body, lying lifelessly on the ground in a pool of blood. X could barely think. The ability to process this was seemingly not possible. There was a moment of utter silence, then X let out a howl of anguish. He collapsed to his knees in the wrecked room, sobbing uncontrollably. Kendra broke down shortly after. She hugged X from behind, leaning on his back as she cried. Zan had just caught up and saw the sight that caused them this breakdown. He fought back tears relentlessly and approached Ozaki.

"He's alive!" Zan exclaimed. Nobody seemed to hear him. "Ozaki? What happened?"

Ozaki, still attempting to regain consciousness, pointed toward Sam's desk. The microphone that he'd been recording his findings with had been active the entire time. Zan rushed to the desk and shut off the mic. He backtracked the recording and stopped it when he heard a voice that he didn't recognize. It was Anna's.

"_You know what they say about revenge. It's a bitch, Sam."_

The sound of a gunshot resonated. Zan, awestruck, shut the recording off. He now made no attempt at holding back tears. Angrily, he slammed his fist on the tabletop, muttered unspeakable words to himself. From a building opposite theirs, Grover sank into a chair, covering his face with his hands.

Some time after, Kendra, X, and Zan took Sam's body to the mountains where he bred the banshees. There, he'd been growing a makeshift Tree of Souls to resonate with the spirits of the ikran. As X carried Sam's body up the mountain, the banshees whimpered and lowered their heads. To them as well, this was like losing a father. X laid Sam down in front of the Tree at the top of the mountain. The roots of the tree began rising from the ground and wrapping around Sam's body. The Tree glowed brightly with Sam's spirit.

"This will keep his body from rotting," Kendra explained.

X didn't respond. Kendra went up to him and embraced him lovingly. He didn't return the gesture. Just then, a flash of light gleamed behind them. Milo had teleported up the mountain.

"X! Emergency!" he shouted. "Last night, the V's attacked the hatchery! Your eggs…"

X didn't wait for Milo to finish. He teleported from the mountaintop to the transportation chamber to the hatchery on Planet X. He rebooted the transporter and hurried inside. When the transportation was complete, he saw a sight that only crushed his already broken spirit even more. The hatchery was in ruins. Clearly the work of remote detonated bombs. The place was a wreck, with greenish slime splattered all over the walls. It took X a minute to figure out what that slime was. It was all that remained of his eggs. X's fists clenched so hard it looked like his veins would burst. He threw his head back and screamed a feral scream of both anger and pain. He dropped to his knees and began hitting the ground with his fist over and over, repeating the word "No". Kendra entered the room and let out a short scream of shock. She covered her mouth with her hands as tears began running down her cheeks. X continued hitting the ground angrily.

"MY EGGS! MY CHILDREN! NO!"

Kendra knelt beside him, wrapping her arms around him. X's sobs began dying down. He stared at the ground for several seconds, then, all of sudden, grief turned to fiery rage. Something in his mind just snapped like a twig. He got up and walked back into the transporter. He re-appeared back on Earth and headed out of the chamber. Kendra was close behind.

"Where are you going!"

X whirled around viciously. His eyes were a blazing shade of red.

"I'M GOING TO KILL ANNA!"


	37. Red Sky

**Chapter Thirty-Six: Red Sky**

Anna and Marcus entered the Visitor Mothership, making their way through the gleaming hallways to the bridge.

"My queen, I have issued orders to depart Earth, as bargained with the Xilians," Marcus informed her.

"No," Anna replied.

Marcus stared at her quizzically "My queen?"

"We are not leaving Earth, Marcus. We've come too far just to throw away all of our efforts. Call off those orders."

"But my queen, do you not remember the last time we did this? We barely made it off of this planet alive! The humans are a weak race, to be sure, but with resolve, there are few things they cannot do. And now the Xilians are here, and they will want revenge. It would not be prudent to…"

Anna turned her head around and looked at Marcus in the eyes. As soon as she did, he began to back down.

"Marcus, are you questioning the orders of your high commander?"

Out from under Anna's skirt rose a long, green tail. It hovered menacingly over Anna's head and seemed to be looking directly at Marcus.

"N-no… my queen…"

"Good," Anna replied. "Now call off your previous orders. It is time for the Red Rain."

Marcus looked like he wanted to object, but knew better than to say anything further. He walked out of the room with an expression of concern.

Anna accessed the bridge's main control board and pressed a series of red buttons with her tail. Instantly, the clouds all over the world turned blood red. It was as if a giant cloak of some sort had been lifted from the Earth. People everywhere were staring at the altered sky in shock and confusion. Miyuki, who was feeding the twins, noticed the change from inside the house. Gordon, who was at EDF headquarters, heard somebody give a new radar reading. Appearing on the radar was thousands of Visitor ships, all positioned around the Earth. Nobody knew what this meant, as there was nobody left who was alive during the first Visitor invasion. Grover, however, knew what this was. Anna had told him about it when they first met. Not to mention, it was one of the things Anna had promised not to do when they made their bargain.

In his apartment, Grover made for the door with a few words in mind for Anna. He opened the door and two Visitor soldiers stood outside.

"I'm sorry, Grover Kilia, but you are not to leave this building. By orders of our queen," they told him.

"Fuck that!" Grover replied. "I need to speak with Anna!"

The soldiers drew guns and pointed them at Grover. "Please return to your room, Xilian."

Grover began backing into his apartment, hands raised. Just then, without warning, Mirza burst through the apartment wall, closing his jaws on one of the soldiers' heads. Using this as a distraction, Grover quickly punched out the other soldier.

"Good boy, Mirza! C'mon, we've got something we need to do…"

Back at the apartment, X approached Miyuki and Milo, who were watching Anna speaking on TV.

"There is no need for alarm. This Red Sky is a gift. When the Red Rain begins, it will repair the ecological damage done to the Earth's oceans and will reduce global warming. This is our gift to humanity for being so kind to us. We ho…"

X turned off the TV.

"She's lying," Milo said. "No doubt about that."

"But then what could this Red Rain be?" Miyuki asked. "There's not a person alive who knows about what the Visitors did last time they were here."

Zan entered the room. "There used to be," he interjected. "But he didn't leave us with nothing."

He inserted a disc into the stereo. After a few seconds, Sam's voice began coming out of the speakers.

"After much investigation, I have come to a conclusion of what Anna's plan is. Her methods are similar to, if not exactly like those that she used when she was here last. She has gained the trust of humanity and now plans on putting her plan into action with something called Red Rain. Red Rain is a biological agent that adds a phosphorus chemical to all humans that will eventually make them viable for breeding with the Visitors. The Visitors need to breed with humans in order to reproduce. That is why they are here. Anna likely knows that I know this, which is why she chose to blackmail Grover into help her assassinate me."

"B…blackmail?" X said out loud.

"If Anna succeeds in initiating the Red Sky, there will be only one way to put a stop to it. Anna must be overthrown. Her subordinates would only go through with this plan if she forced it upon them. She wants revenge on humanity for stopping her last time. And she knows humankind will have forgotten their last invasion by now. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it…"

The disc cut off, damaged by the attack.

"So that explains it," Milo said.

There was a sudden knock on the door. Douglas Gordon entered.

"Hey, you guys see that red shit in the sky?" he asked them.

They all looked at him blankly.

"…Guess so. How's Ozaki doing?"

"He hasn't woken up since the attack," Miyuki replied. "I think he's in some kind of mini-coma. He should come out of it soon."

"Good. I've managed to get the _Gotengo_ back. We're planning an assault on the Visitors' Mothership and I need him."

"Don't, Gordon," X interjected. "The _Gotengo_ wouldn't stand a chance. There's only one way to stop this, and I plan on taking care of it myself. Anna killed my father."

"Oh…" Gordon said, feeling rather awkward. "I'm sorry. You take care of it then. We can't afford to lose too many soldiers."

"But, X!" Kendra said, having just arrived. "If Sam couldn't beat Anna…"

"Sam surrendered," Zan interjected. "For Ozaki's sake."

"Oh…" Kendra replied softly.

X had left the room already. He entered Sam's office and closed the door. He began rummaging through drawers that were still intact, until coming across what he was looking for in a very hidden drawer in Sam's desk. It looked like some kind of key.

"Found it…"

X held out his wrist and his neural queue appeared. He stuck the key into his wrist. The tendrils of the queue wrapped around it. X turned the key several times and breathed deeply.

When X exited the office several minutes later, he found Kendra, Milo, and Zan waiting outside for him.

"X, don't go!" Kendra pleaded. "You'll get yourself killed… I don't want to lose you too!"

"I'll be back, I promise," X told her as he leaned down to kiss her. Kendra held him close, fighting back tears.


	38. Confrontation

**Chapter Thirty-Seven: Confrontation **

Anna had stepped down from her podium for a short time. Her speech was to be broadcasted live to the whole world once she'd had a short break. She approached Marcus.

"Is the Red Rain ready to begin?"

Marcus didn't make eye contact. "Yes, my queen. I have the remote on hand."

"Excellent. You will initiate it on my mark."

"Yes… my queen…"

"ANNA!"

Anna and Marcus both turned to see Grover, angrily making his way past the security guards. Anna sighed, clearly annoyed.

"I'm sorry Grover, but I'm on in five minutes. I can't be bothered with you and your whimsical complaints right now."

"WE HAD A DEAL!" Grover yelled back.

"I know that. As I promised, your friends will not be harmed."

"THAT WASN'T ALL! YOU WEREN'T TO RESORT TO THE RED RAIN! YOU WERE TO LEAVE!"

Anna glared at Grover with her feral eyes. He backed up slightly, but still stood strong.

"Grover, our deal was that you help us assassinate Sam and get your friends onto our side and we'd do as we agreed. Since you did neither successfully, you should feel fortunate that I'm upholding any part of my side of the bargain."

"You'd never have found Sam without my help! And I tried to get them on your side, but they don't trust me anymore!"

"Well, whose fault is that, Grover?"

Grover paused. He had no answer.

"You're a traitor in the eyes of your kin and a failure in the eyes of mine. You've given up everything just to help your pathetic friends, and they don't even trust you anymore. I had nothing to do with any of it. Now, security, would you please escort this man out?"

Grover was completely disheartened. He didn't even resist as the security guards ushered him out. Anna was right. About everything. He left the conference and trudged back to Mirza, who was waiting for him in an alleyway.

"We've got nothing, Mirza," he told the banshee. "Just each other…"

Mirza whimpered and nuzzled Grover affectionately.

Anna had resumed her speech, explaining to the world about the Red Rain. But she didn't notice somebody shoving their way violently though the crowd. It was X. And as he made his way toward the front of the crowd, his body began… changing. His skin began turning into… scales. Reddish black scales. Out from his back came armor similar to Sam's when he fought the Predators. Red and brown hair-like appendages began extending from his head. As his transformation progressed, his walk turned into a run. And from a run, into a fast sprint.

Anna now saw the people getting thrown aside and moving quickly out of the way of something moving quickly through the crowd. It neared her closer and closer before stopping. The sea of people covered its appearance for a few seconds, before it burst from the crowd and leapt into the air, landing feet first on the stage in front of her. Anna stared in shock. Finally, he raised his head.

"YOU KILLED MY FATHER, YOU KILLED MY UN-BORN CHILDREN, NOW IM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

A helmet closed over his head. It was a Predator helmet, but with a strange jawbone shape over the mouth of it. He took a battle stance and a single, elongated wrist blade extended.

Anna stared at X with contempt, but showed no traces of fear.

"Go ahead and try… Mr. Black."

Before X could make a single move, Anna struck with her tail. She forcefully struck X in the chest, knocking him off the stage. He landed back into the sea of people on his back. The entire crowd dispersed instantly. X rose to his feet as people fled all around him. Anna smiled smugly at him as her tail handed off to her a small remote.

"_Where the hell was she keeping that?"_ X thought to himself.

Anna pressed the button and a large beam of light shot down directly on X from the mothership hovering over their heads. When the light faded, X found himself surrounded by Xenomorphs, all of them twice the size as the one he killed. Saliva dripped from their jaws and they snarled menacingly at X.

"Well… this could be an issue…" he muttered.


	39. Aliens vs Predator

**Chapter Thirty-Eight: Aliens vs. Predator**

X's wrist blade extended and he roared through his mask. The Xenomorphs roared back. One of them, obviously more daring, charged at X, it's fangs glistening. Like he had eyes in the back of his head, X whirled around with his Wrist Blades, impaling the Xenomorph through the skull. He threw its body aside as the rest of the pack charged ferociously at him. X was like a hurricane. Any Xenomorph that came within 10 feet of him got a Blade through the abdomen or a Plasma Caster shot to the face. X was roaring like a feral animal, slicing the heads off any alien stupid enough to come close to him. Anna, now aware of his rage, came to the conclusion that this was Sam's son. She signaled to the mothership. Another beam of light descended from the ship, surrounding X and the Xenomorphs. When it cleared, at least three-dozen Visitor soldiers stood. But they weren't in their human shells. They were in their original forms. They were a sickly shade of green and stood on all fours. Their tails where like whips and their frames looked similar to that of an insect with their torsos divided into two separate parts.

Alongside the Xenomorphs, these alien beasts lunged at X, claws bared. When X began grappling with one, it was apparent that they were much stronger than their thin frames would suggest. These were thirty-six enemies too many, and X's vision was severely impaired in his bio-mask. He gripped the side of his mask and pulled it off over his head. Upon seeing his new face, his foes were clearly intimidated. They began withdrawing from X's line of sight. Anna's reptilian eyes widened with shock. X's formerly striking human features were gone. His face had changed completely. Arthropod-like mandibles now extended from his mouth. His "dreadlocks" were red and brown, and his face was covered with red markings that resembled open cuts. His mandibles extended wide and he let out a roar of challenge at his foes. When they did not meet this challenge, he met it for them. X rushed the Xenomorphs and Visitors, Wrist Blades at the ready. It was a perpetual bloodbath, with X cutting through them with ease. He was going all-out now, and no foe stood in his path.

Anna, who was normally calm in most scenarios, was now feeling an all too human chill go up her spine. She held the remote in her hand up toward the mothership and pressed one final button. Through the crimson red clouds, dozens of Visitor ships began entering Earth's stratosphere. They formed a perimeter around X, weapons aimed at him. He was powerless. Even with all of his strength, he stood no chance against a force this vast.

"We have him trapped, my queen," Marcus said over the communications. "Shall we have the soldiers take him captive?"

A sinister smile passed Anna's face. "No," she replied. "Kill him."

Marcus sighed. "As you wish, my queen."

The weapons aboard the ships began to glow with energy. X's weapons were retracted, but he roared defiantly at the ships anyway as they prepared to unleash death upon him.

X closed his eyes and waited for the end, when he began to hear something in the distance. It sounded like exhilarated whooping. And it was coming from… the sky. Anna heard it too. They looked toward the sky. Not far from their position was what looked like a large cloud. But it wasn't a cloud, for it appeared to be approaching them. Fast. As it neared them, it became apparent to both X and Anna what it was.

A gigantic, clustered together flock of mountain banshees. There were thousands of them, all flying together toward them. And in the lead was a dark blue banshee, mounted by a humanoid that seemed to be the source of the whooping. X could see clearly from miles away and knew in an instant who it was. It didn't take Anna long to figure it out either, and when she knew who, her fury was apparent by her resulting shout of anger.

"GROVER!"

Grover shouted something in Na'vi and pointed a finger down toward the Visitors' ship perimeter. With he and Mirza in the lead, the banshees performed a giant dive-bomb. In seconds, the Visitor ships were swarming with mountain banshees, weighing the vessels down and causing their controls to malfunction. Some of the ikran weren't as lucky, but their massive numbers were causing confusion and disarray amongst the Visitor ships. Some of the ships were even firing on each other. Kendra's distinctive green banshee landed beside X. Before he could mount it to escape the perimeter, the banshee was shot dead. X looked and saw Anna, retreating to the mothership with a smoking gun in her hand. X roared ferociously at her and donned his bio-mask again. A beam of light enveloped Anna and she was gone, back aboard the mothership.

"My queen!" Marcus said as Anna re-appeared aboard the mothership. "Their numbers are too great! We must retreat and call for reinforcements!"

"No…" Anna said. "Not until I've had my revenge on Sam's son."

"MY QUEEN!" Marcus bellowed, which was surprising, as he almost never raised his voice. "YOU MUST STOP DWELLING ON THIS OBESSION WITH REVENGE! CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT OUR PEOPLE ARE IN DANGER? WE MUST RETREAT!"

Anna slowly turned her head to look at Marcus. There was cold fury and unbridled contempt in her yellow eyes. In a movement too quick for the naked eye, Anna's bladed tail impaled Marcus through the abdomen. He let out a weak, reptilian-like groan before collapsing on the ground. Anna walked swiftly to the bridge and reached the control panel. A large red button was evident on the holographic panel. She pressed it without hesitation.

As soon as she'd done so, the Red Sky began to darken. In seconds, Red Rain poured from the clouds like a torrent. EDF officials, including Gordon, began rushing people indoors. The Visitors' plan to use the human race for reproduction was coming to fruition before their eyes. As the phosphoric downpour raged, the mothership began pulling away from its resting place in the city. X, still trapped within the perimeter, let out a roar of fury.

Just then, a banshee landed behind him. It was Mirza, with Grover mounted on his back.

"Need a lift?"

X stared at Grover momentarily. He looked like he was ready to arm his Plasma Caster.

"X…" Grover began. "I'm… sorry. I can explain everything later, but right now Anna's getting away!"

X's Bio-Mask peeled back automatically to reveal his human face. He looked at Grover and smiled.

"I already know, Grover. Don't worry; you don't need to explain yourself to me. But you're right. We need to go!"

X's Bio-Mask closed over his face and he jumped on Mirza's back behind Grover. Grover smiled at X, then turned back to Mirza. He shouted a command in Na'vi and Mirza took off, headed straight for the giant, gray mothership that was slowly making its way back into space.


	40. the Chase

**Chapter Thirty-Nine: the Chase**

The Red Rain pouring down on them made it difficult for Mirza to see, but Grover, who'd donned goggles, was able to steer him in the right direction. Still, it was difficult to maneuver around the swarming banshees and plummeting Visitor ships. Not to mention dodging the laser fire directed at them from the mothership. Despite all of this, Grover and Mirza were able to steer skillfully toward Anna's shuttle, which was nearing the mothership fast.

"Grover!" X shouted. "We need stop the shuttle before it reaches the mothership! I need to expose Anna!"

"Ok! Mirza!" Grover shouted. "Pick up the pace!"

Mirza grunted in reply and began flapping his wings vigorously as he ascended higher into the Red Sky. Soon, they were in the midst of a large number of Visitor shuttles, all making their ways back to the mothership. X surveyed the ship using his Bio-Mask's vision, searching for heat-signals of Visitors aboard the shuttles. Finally, he located Anna's distinctive signal aboard one of the shuttles.

"That one, Grover! Drop me off on it! I'll take it from here!"

"Got it! Good luck!"

Mirza moved in, hovering above the shuttle. Just then, laser bolts began bursting through the shuttle's roof. Somebody was shooting at them. Mirza landed on the shuttle's roof, causing it to shake violently. As soon as X jumped off Mirza's back, he and Grover flew out of the way. X extended his Wrist Blade and impaled the roof of the shuttle. He carved a massive hole in the roof and dropped in. There were several human-disguised Visitors aboard, all of them armed with guns. X maneuvered around their guns, taking down every Visitor that came near him. His eyes were darting around the room as he searched for Anna, who was clearly hiding. However, when his Plasma Caster began firing, he wasn't looking where he was shooting and hit the driver of the shuttle.

"Whoops…" he said to himself.

The shuttle began spiraling uncontrollably in the sky as it plummeted towards the ground. As X made for the windshield, he felt a laser bullet graze his shoulder, blowing off his Plasma Caster. He turned and saw Anna, standing with a smoking gun in her hand and with an enraged expression on her face. X didn't have time to deal with her now. He dove out of the shuttle's windshield as it hit the ground with tremendous force. The long shuttle rolled across the ground like a rolling log, tearing up the ground around it before finally coming to a halt next to Tokyo Tower.

X was now picking himself up off the ground. He'd had a bit of a rough landing when he jumped out of the shuttle. He looked up. The Red Rain was still pouring from the crimson sky. There was a cloud of dust settling in the wake of the shuttle, and X was right in the middle of it. His Bio-Mask allowed him to see inside the interior of the shuttle. He wasn't detecting many pulses from within the wreck. But there was one. And it was exiting the wreck and making its way toward him. As the dust cleared, X could see who it was.

"…Anna…"

A crowd of people was beginning to surround the wreck, many holding video cameras. People in the nearby apartment buildings were watching as well. But none of them dared get any closer to X and Anna as they faced each other defiantly. There was an unsettling silence in the vicinity. The only sound was that of the Red Rain pelting the ground. Clicking noises emanated from within X's helmet. Anna didn't say a word in reply. She just stood indifferent, staring at X. Her clothes were torn and her human disguise looked badly damaged. X could make out patches of green, scaly skin on her body.

"WHY DONT YOU SHOW THEM WHAT YOU REALLY LOOK LIKE!" X shouted at Anna at last. "SHOW YOUR FACE!"

Anna snarled slightly at him, then looked back at the gaping crowd. The Red Rain was pouring on them, and Anna could tell that they'd been exposed to the phosphoric chemical. X was the only thing still in her way. She slowly turned her head back toward X. She smiled a sinister smile at X, and the pupils in her reptilian eyes suddenly shrunk dramatically.

X watched as Anna's human skin began peeling off of her body in layers. It fell to the ground like she was a snake shedding its old skin. Anna's body distorted in shape and her limbs began extending. She tilted her head back and let out a reptilian screeching sound. She lowered her now fully reptilian head and was now face-to-face with X. The crowd around them began gasping with shock. Anna bared her fangs and snarled at X. X let out a roar of challenge, extended his Wrist Blades, and sprinted towards her with all of his might. Anna got down on all fours and ran like a rabid dog at X. The two weren't far away so it was only a matter of seconds before they collided in a ferocious whirlwind.


	41. Revenge

**Chapter Forty: Revenge**

X's Wrist Blades were swinging ferociously at Anna. But, in her unbridled true form, she was extremely quick and able to dodge X's every attack. Every move he made on her, she was able to evade. X attempted to fake her out, but she caught his arm. He was unable to move his arm at all with Anna holding it in a vicegrip. With a swift arm motion, Anna twisted X's arm back, wrenching it out of its socket. X let out a roar of pain and stumbled backwards, clutching his arm. Now Anna had the advantage. Her tail was like lightning, jabbing mercilessly at X. His Bio-Mask gave him a small amount of lead-time, but Anna's unmatched speed was beginning to wear him down. X was backing up, dodging as many jabs as he could, but Anna was unmerciful.

She made a jab to X's left, which he dodged, but she then darted her tail around him and jabbed him right in his displaced arm. X howled in pain and fury as he extended his Wrist Blade and made an unexpected move with it, slashing Anna's stomach. She hissed and recoiled back, giving X an opening to draw a spear. He stepped back and hurled it at the recovering Anna with his good arm. Despite her injury, Anna's tail caught the spear and snapped it in two. Anna lashed out with her tail again; slashing X's good arm and she then kicked him against a wall. He slid down the wall and slumped on the ground. Well satisfied, Anna leaned down toward X's masked face, hissing. She pressed a button on the back of X's helmet and it retracted, revealing his human face. He looked up weakly at her.

"I'm sorry, it's just a habit of mine," she said. "I prefer to look into my victim's eyes before I kill him. Just like your father."

X seemed too beaten up and incoherent to understand what she was saying.

"You know, I always hated you Xilians," she went on. "That's why when the War broke out, I targeted Pandora first."

Now X seemed to snap to attention.

"Sure enough, your people fought bravely," she explained. "But the invaders who were already going through their forces made them weak. When my fleet arrived on Pandora, the noble Xilians stood no chance. Your precious father never told you that, did he?"

X was staring at Anna with an expression of utter shock and disbelief. ANNA was responsible for the destruction of the Xilian race from Pandora? But then what could she possibly want vengeance for? And why wouldn't Sam go after her instead of vice-versa?

"Sam was away from Pandora at the time," Anna continued. "But when I went to dispatch him myself, he killed my lover. Since then, all that's mattered to me is getting him back, and now he just waltzes into my hands. It was almost too easy. And you were no different. If Sam does manage to come back like he always does, he'll be down one son."

The hatred that X felt toward Anna for killing Sam now was boiling over into unparalleled rage. He'd never felt anger like this in his life. The person who was responsible for the near destruction of his race was standing over him, mocking him. X was about to get up when Anna jabbed him in the shoulder with her tail, knocking him back to the ground. Her tail handed her a gun, which she pointed at X's head.

"Ok WHERE are you getting this stuff from?" X yelled.

"Say goodbye, Xilian scum," she said as her finger closed around the trigger.

Before she could fire, a voice yelled behind her.

"GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!"

Anna turned her head to see Ozaki come sprinting towards her. He leapt into the air at her, ready to strike. Anna turned around to face Ozaki, her tail at the ready. She curled it into a makeshift fist and lashed it at Ozaki. Her tail struck Ozaki directly in the chest, knocking him through the air and sending him crashing into a wall. He fell face first on the ground, unconscious.

"You Xilians are making this too easy," Anna said. "You may as well be handing your lives to me. As soon as I'm done with this one, you'll be next, mutant."

She turned back to X, only to find him to have vanished. Panicked, Anna's eyes darted around the area, searching for X. All of a sudden, she felt something grab her tail. She turned around frantically to see nobody there. But she sure felt something yank her off of her feet by her tail and being swinging her around in a circle. Before long, she went flying from the assailant's hands and through a wall. As she recovered, dazed, Anna saw something materialize in front of her. It was X, and he'd just lowered his cloaking device. He stood over her with clicking sounds coming from within his helmet. Anna was about to get up and fight back, when X slammed his foot down on her tail. Anna let out a shriek of pain and fell back. X gripped his helmet and pulled off his Bio-Mask. His already terrifying Yautja face was now twisted and distorted with rage as he let out his loudest roar yet, right in Anna's face. It was a roar of unrelenting fury and anger. X's Wrist Blade extended and, to Anna's shock, he began somehow forming words through his mandibles.

"This… is for… all of the Xilians… that you've killed…including… my father."

Anna snarled weakly. "Xilian… scum…"

X leapt into the air with a vicious roar, his Wrist Blade ready to strike. He plunged the Blade into Anna's stomach, spilling green blood all over the ground. Anna shrieked in agony, flailing like a trapped animal. X stared at her for a few seconds, then grabbed a hold of her head with his good arm. He gripped it with his powerful hand and gave one forceful pull.

Green blood sprayed him in the face as Anna's head detached from her shoulders. But that wasn't all. Her spinal cord came next, unsheathing from her body like a sword. When it had fully detached, her body collapsed like a lifeless puppet. X held Anna's head in front of his face, staring into her lifeless eyes. Ozaki, who'd recovered, stared at X in wonder. As did Grover, who was circling them on Mirza as the banshees began flying back to the mountain where Sam had bred them. X clenched Anna's head in his hand then held it up, spine and all, into the sky, with a tremendous roar of victory.


	42. Heroes Return

**Chapter Forty-One: Heroes Return.**

There was a knock at the Ozakis' door. The Xilians were staying there until the apartment was repaired. Miyuki opened the door slowly, unsure about whom it could be. When the door swung open, X stood, returned to his human form, flanked by Ozaki and Grover, the former of whom X was helping walk inside. Miyuki, who was in tears, ran up to Ozaki and embraced him lovingly, followed by a slap to the face.

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE? YOU COULD'VE DIED!" she screamed, beating her fists against Ozaki's chest.

Ozaki sighed. "I had to help X. If he had lost…"

"I KNOW!" Miyuki yelled back. She lowered her hands, tears rolling down her eyes. Ozaki just held her close. He didn't need to say anything more at times like these.

Kendra ran up to X and jumped into his arms, overjoyed. "YOU DID IT! SHE'S DEAD! EARTHS SAVED! WE'RE SAVED!"

X held Kendra tightly. After what he'd just been through, there was nowhere else he'd rather be than in Kendra's arms. "Anna endangered not only the humans' lives, but the Visitors' lives too," he explained. "The Vs said they'll do anything for us. Anything."

"How bout kicking their lizard asses out of here?" Zan suggested.

"No… I've got a better idea…"

Later the next day, the Xilians waited in a medical chamber aboard the Visitors' mothership with several Visitor medics. The doors slid open and X stood in the doorway, carrying Sam's limp body in his arms, joined by Ozaki. He laid Sam's body on the medical bed and the Visitor medics stood around it. A red laser flashed over Sam's body and a blue force field glowed over him. There were several anxious seconds of waiting. Finally, Sam's eyes burst open and he gasped sharply.

"FATHER!" X shouted, overjoyed.

"…X? You're alright!" Sam said.

He got up off the medical bed and X hugged him.

"Anna's dead! WE WON!"

Sam smiled at X. His son had finally done the right thing. "You… brought me back to life?"

"The Vs owned us a favor for getting rid of a tyrant like Anna," X explained. "They were also able to stop the Red Rain and we offered them some of our cloning technology so that they won't go extinct."

"So you found my recording then?"

"Yup. We couldn't have done it without you."

"So I take it Grover is no longer on your hit list?"

X stepped to the side, revealing Grover, who was smiling weakly. "Hi Sam… sorry about… you know… causing your death."

"Grover, if I hadn't died, Anna would never have initiated the Red Sky and we could've never exposed her."

"Oh… right," said Grover, embarrassed.

"Plus, he saved my ass like three times," X laughed.

Grover smiled. "Oh, by the way Sam, if you find a number of your ikrans are missing, that's because…"

"Ehhh… I don't want to know," Sam interrupted.

"F-father?"

Sam turned to see Ozaki standing nearby, not making eye contact with Sam. Sam approached him.

"Father… I'm so sorry," Ozaki began, stuttering on his words. "I'm a horrible son. I should've realized from the start that you cared. I was just so… angry. I know nothing I say could justify my feelings, I just…"

Sam placed his hands on Ozaki's shoulders.

"Ozaki, I couldn't be more proud of you," he said. "You were there when your brother needed you the most. Twice. I don't know what I would've done were it not for you. I am proud to be your father."

Ozaki smiled weakly. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. "And I'm proud to call my son by your great name."

The group returned to the Ozakis', where Kendra, Miyuki, and the others were waiting. As soon as Sam stepped into the room, Kendra leapt up from her seat, overjoyed.

"IT WORKED! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

She leapt into Sam's arms, hugging him tightly.

"Yes, I know," Sam laughed. "And you know what I saw when I was dead?"

Everybody shook their heads and shrugged.

"I saw Eywa. In the flesh. She's real."

Everyone looked astounded. Before anything else could be said, Sam jumped.

"Wait! Is it May 30th already?"

"Yeah. Why?" asked X.

"X, your eggs should hatch today!"

X froze, then his head lowered.

"What?" asked Sam.

"Anna and the Vs… destroyed his eggs," Kendra explained.

"Oh… X… I'm so sorry…" Sam said. X walked up to him, trying to fight back tears, and hugged him.

"I'm sorry…"


	43. The Stronger Man

**Chapter Forty-Two: The Stronger Man.**

The next morning, X woke up next to Kendra. It had been a rough night. Chester had woken up in the middle of the night like he had a habit of doing. This time, he'd woken up Ezio as well. X made the mistake of opting to go put them back to bed, unaware that he'd be dealing with both kids. He woke up and stretched his arms. Upon lowering them again, he was met with another shock. Some of the skin on his arm was turning into scales again.

"KENDRA! WAKE UP AND LOOK AT THIS!"

Kendra slowly woke up and turned to look. Upon seeing it, she let out a gasp of shock.

"YOUR BREEDING SKIN! X, YOU'RE GOING TO LAY MORE EGGS! YOU WERE CHOSEN AGAIN!"

X smiled broadly and hugged Kendra.

"I'm actually happy to do it again. I'm honored to be able to help my people like this," X said.

Kendra smiled at X and kissed him.

Sam was drinking his coffee in the kitchen while Zan watched TV. Ozaki and Miyuki were still sleeping as long as they could before the twins woke them up. Grover had to be at work for the breakfast rush and Milo was sleeping in. Kendra burst into the kitchen, pulling X by his arm.

"SAM! GUESS WHAT? X IS PREGNANT AGAIN! HE'S GOING TO LAY EGGS AGAIN!"

Zan was trying to hold back his laughter, his face turning red.

"I'm actually happy to have children again, Zan," X said. "No need to laugh."

Zan stopped; discouraged that he couldn't mess with X.

"This is Ewya who did this," Sam said, smiling proudly. "She gave you another chance!"

X looked up toward the sky. This meant that Eywa trusted him. The first time he was chosen, it had been only because he was Sam's son. But this time, Eywa had chosen him for him. And Sam knew very well why; for he and Eywa had watched it unfold. X's actions protecting the Earth and avenging the injustice that had been done on his people had completely won Eywa over. The goddess had forgiven him for his past sins because of how he'd repented for them.

X's mind traveled back to something Sam had said to him shortly after they'd returned home from Earth after the Final War.

"_It takes a strong man to admit his mistakes, and a stronger man to repent for them."_

X now understood what he meant. And Eywa believed the very same, it would seem. And both of them now saw X as the stronger man. He'd admitted his mistake of invading the Earth, and now he'd repenting for it by saving it. X now had a new feeling welling up inside of him; one that he was unfamiliar with. It was a feeling of great pride and accomplishment. He not only had the approval of his father and brother, but now his deity as well. X had never felt like this before. He felt genuinely happy with himself. He didn't even care about the painful process he was going to have to go through for a second time. His father was proud of him, his brother had accepted him, and his goddess had blessed both him and his marriage and newborn children. X was so happy that all he could do was look up into the sky, towards Eywa, and say…

"…THANK YOU!"

**The End**


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